


Mass Effect: 187

by theaterman007



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 64,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27439141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theaterman007/pseuds/theaterman007
Summary: Retired Alliance Captain Mark Shepard is beginning his new job as a homicide detective with Citadel Security (C-SEC). His first case: the brutal murder of a quarian businesswoman. With his best friend and former squadmate Garrus Vakarian as his partner, Shepard must sort through multiple suspects and motives in order to crack the case.
Relationships: Male Shepard/Ashley Williams
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The cover image was made by my friend and regular collaborator, Berserker79. The image was used with his permission and you can find the original piece on his deviantart page. While you're there, he has other amazing pieces of Shepley artwork that are worth checking out.

Mark Shepard almost didn't recognize the man staring back at him in the mirror. It wasn't the man himself that he didn't recognize. As far as Shepard could tell, his appearance hadn't really changed much the last few years. If it wasn't the man, then it had to be the outfit the man was wearing. It consisted of black shoes, blue jeans with a black belt, a black undershirt and a blue leather jacket. Though not the craziest of outfits, at least as far as work outfits went, it was strange for Shepard to see himself in it because he was so used to the previous work outfit that he had worn for almost two decades.

Since he was eighteen, Shepard had been a member of the Alliance military. Every morning he would get up and put on the same Alliance causal wear. The type of causal outfit he wore would change as he rose up the ranks but it was always an Alliance outfit. He even considered the N7 leather jacket he wore during the later moments of his career to be in the same class of outfit since the N7 represented his rank in the Alliance special forces. The only time he would put on a different outfit in the morning was when he was on shore leave. Now Shepard didn't wear Alliance outfits anymore. Not after what happened seven months ago.

Shepard shook his head in an attempt to snap himself out of his current thought. It was not the time to think about the past. Thus he returned his attention to the uniform he was wearing at that moment. Upon taking a second look, Shepard decided that the blue leather jacket he was wearing wasn't that different from his N7 jacket. In fact, it had a similar design. The main difference was instead of a black coat with a red lines down the sleeves, it was a blue coat with black lines. It was then he realized that it wasn't the outfit itself that made his reflection unrecognizable, it was what the outfit represented. The uniform was proof that he wasn't a soldier anymore. Now he was something else. To further prove the point, and to psyche himself up for the day that awaited him, Shepard pulled out a badge from his pocket and held it up to the mirror.

Shepard then said in a professional tone, "I'm Detective Shepard, C-SEC Homicide."

A smile appeared on Shepard's face as he clipped the badge onto his belt. Slowly the words he said began to sink in. The retired Alliance captain was now a police officer. And not just any police officer, he was getting ready to start his first day as a homicide detective with Citadel Security (C-SEC).

When Shepard retired from the military seven months ago, he knew right away that whatever job he pursued next had to allow him to continue to do what he felt was his purpose in life: helping people. Since he lived on the Citadel, the space station that served as the political center of the galaxy, the obvious choice to him that met his criteria was C-SEC. After all, other military veterans had successfully found careers with C-SEC after retiring. The tough part though was getting the job. All applicants for C-SEC needed to be endorsed by a Citadel Councilor. Fortunately the human representative on the Council, Steven Hackett, was someone who knew Shepard well and gladly endorsed his application. It also helped that Shepard had two friends who were active duty C-SEC officers that could give him recommendations. With the recommendations and Hackett's endorsement, Shepard was sworn in and became a C-SEC patrol officer. Shepard worked as a patrol officer until a week ago when he was approached by Commander Armando-Owen Bailey, one of his C-SEC friends who helped him get the job, and offered a promotion to homicide detective. The offer was surprising to Shepard because new detectives were never offered to start their careers in homicide. Bailey explained that he felt confident Shepard was a good fit for the job because he had seen Shepard handle himself well at a crime scene back when he was still in the military. Initially Shepard wasn't sure if he wanted to take the job. He joined C-SEC to help people and it was hard for him to see how he could do that in a job where he would be showing up after a person had already been killed. Then it dawned on Shepard it was because of that train of thought that made murder victims need help. Just because a person was dead didn't mean Shepard couldn't help them. As a homicide detective, Shepard could be the one to ensure that justice for the victims was served. With that in mind and knowing that Bailey was a friend who would never offer him something that he couldn't handle, Shepard accepted the promotion.

Now ready to begin his first day, Shepard left his bedroom and proceeded to the lower level of his apartment. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, his attention was drawn to the sound of footsteps coming from the office room. He smiled as he knew who it was that was making those footsteps. Walking into the office, his hunch was confirmed. Pacing by the terminal was his wife, Ashley. Ashley didn't seem to notice Shepard enter the office as she appeared to be deep in thought with one hand scratching her head and the other resting on her seven month pregnant belly. The smile on Shepard's face grew larger. It always made him happy to see his wife in her maternal glory first thing in the morning. The day he and Ashley found out they were going to have a baby was one of the happiest days of their lives….and also one of the scariest.

The brief thought of that day brought Shepard back to the moment seven months ago he was trying not to think about earlier. It was when he and Ashley were on their final mission as Alliance soldiers. The mission involved him pursing an enigmatic figure known only as the mystery backer. The backer first came to Shepard's attention when he found out they were financing several terrorist plots that he had been tasked with thwarting. It was later discovered the backer was a woman named Dana Thompson who financed the schemes as part of an elaborate plan to get revenge on Shepard, the person she believed murdered her sister Julia. It was true that Shepard had killed Julia but he had a good reason for it. Julia was working on a ship called the MSV Worthington when she killed her entire crew in a misguided attempt to keep her brain dead boyfriend alive. She later tried to kill Shepard and his squad when they boarded to investigate the Worthington after finding it floating adrift. By all accounts, Shepard had no choice but to kill her because it was a kill or be killed situation. Unfortunately Dana refused to believe that her sister would snap and instead believed that Shepard was just using his status as a council Spectre (SPECial Tactics and REconnaissance) to get away with murder. She then formed a plan to arrange for the deaths of several of Shepard's closest friends so that he would suffer like she did before finally killing him. Dana succeeded in causing the deaths of six of Shepard's friends and nearly killed four others before Shepard finally brought her to justice.

Ashley was one of the four friends that Dana nearly killed. Planning to have Ashley's death be the final blow she dealt to Shepard before killing him, Dana kidnapped Ashley while she was on a hostage rescue mission. Shepard and his squad were able to rescue Ashley but not before she received a near fatal stab wound from Dana. It was while Ashley was recovering that she learned she was pregnant. Though Shepard and Ashley were both delighted when they received the news, Ashley's near death experience and the other events of the mystery backer case made them wonder if they could handle being both soldiers and parents. After much discussion, the couple had decided that they were happy with what they had accomplished during their careers and chose to retire from the military so they could raise their baby together.

While Shepard had chosen to join C-SEC after retiring, Ashley had begun taking an interest in writing. Shepard figured it was because of her love for classic literature. At the present, Ashley was putting the finishing touches on what she hoped was going to become her debut novel. The novel was titled "Love Conquers All" and it followed the story of two soldiers who meet on the battlefield, fall in love and face challenges as they try to make their relationship work. Only Shepard, Ashley and their close friends and family knew that Ashley's "fictional" story was based on their own relationship. When Shepard had last asked Ashley about how the book was going, she told him that she had only one chapter left to write. Now looking at Ashley pacing and scratching her head, Shepard got the feeling that she was suffering from writer's block.

"Good morning beautiful," Shepard said to get Ashley's attention, "I had a feeling you were down here when you weren't in bed when I woke up."

"Yeah," Ashley said with a weary smile while she patted her stomach, "our kiddo here woke me up early so I thought I'd try to get some writing done. Unfortunately I haven't made any progress. I just don't know how to end the story."

"How come?" Shepard asked slightly confused. "You're basing the story on us. Why not just have it end with your heroes living happily ever after like we are?"

"I thought about it," Ashley said as she sat down in the chair by the terminal, "it just…it seems a bit cliché. I feel like people are getting tired of happily ever after. So I've been thinking about ending it with one of my protagonists dying in the final battle and the survivor having to carry on without them. I just need to figure out whether it will be the man or the woman. Ooh."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, the baby's kicking up a storm again. Come here and feel for yourself."

Shepard knelt down next to Ashley and put a hand on her stomach. Sure enough the baby was unleashing a fury of kicks. Shepard smiled as his hand felt each one. He also kind of felt sorry for Ashley. She was carrying the child of two former soldiers who each had strong fighting spirits. If the baby was inheriting that trait about them, Ashley was probably going to be feeling many more strong kicks until it was born. Fortunately his concern was lifted when Ashley smiled too and even made a joke.

"He's definitely your kid. Every time I try to get some work done, he starts kicking and won't stop no matter what I do to try and calm him down. Stubborn, just like his dad."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle at Ashley's remark. In the first place, he knew that she was one to talk about being stubborn. It could just as easily be the baby was getting its stubbornness from its mother. In the second place, he loved how Ashley was still sticking to her belief that the baby was going to be a boy. They had mutually agreed that they wanted the gender of the baby to be a surprise when it was born and had turned down all previous offers to find out beforehand. Yet Ashley seemed to believe she could tell it was going to be a boy. Normally Shepard wasn't one to argue with a woman's intuition, especially Ashley's. However he personally believed that the odds were in favor of the baby being a girl. Though Shepard didn't know much about his own family history having grown up an orphan, Ashley was from a family of all girls. With those odds, Shepard felt that he and Ashley were going to have a "girly hoard" of their own. So since Ashley was always calling the baby "he" and "him", Shepard felt that he could call it "she" and "her". Luckily for him, Ashley enjoyed their playful disagreement.

Suddenly Shepard's eyes widened when something clicked in his head. It was like a couple of puzzle pieces had come together to make a whole picture. A sly smile appeared on Shepard's face when he figured out what the picture was. The deduction he just made seemed to be further proof that he really did have what it took to be a detective.

"Do you think that maybe the baby's trying to tell you something?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked as she looked at Shepard like he had asked a stupid question.

"Well you said the baby starts kicking when you try to write that ending you mentioned. It's possible that she doesn't like your ending and wants you to write the happy one. And I happen to think she's right."

Ashley looked down at her stomach contemplating what Shepard said, "you really think that's why he's kicking so much?"

"I know it is. Look Ash, I think between the Reaper War and the rebuilding efforts that came after it, the last thing everyone wants to read is a story that ends with more loss. They need a story that shows that there is still hope for a happy ending. The way I see it, you can never get tired of reading about people overcoming obstacles to find happiness."

Shepard could tell his words worked as Ashley's smile grew larger and a happy tear appeared in her eye. It was then she realized that the baby had stopped kicking. It seemed hard to believe but she had to admit that Shepard appeared to be right. She gave her stomach a gentle pat and then leaned forward to give Shepard a hug.

"Thank you," she said, "both of you."

"You're welcome," Shepard said before his attention was caught by the terminal's clock, "uh oh, I need to get going or I'll be late for work."

The minute Shepard brought up his work, Ashley seemed to tense up. It wasn't hard for Shepard to figure out why. Ashley had been supportive of his decision to work at C-SEC but that didn't mean she wasn't worried about the risks involved with being a police officer. With the baby on the way, the last thing she wanted was for it to never meet its father. Shepard understood her worries and there was a part of him that thought about finding a job that didn't involve risking his life. But his desire to help people won out every time he considered it. All he could do now was try and reassure Ashley that he would be fine. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and locked eyes with her.

"I'll be alright Ash," he said, "I won't be in nearly as much danger as I was on battlefields. If I ever do find myself in a jam, my partner will have my back. Who knows, it's possible I might not even catch a case today."

"I know," Ashley said with Shepard's words helping her feel a little better, "you really are a true hero-man. Actually now that I think about it, you haven't even told me who your new partner is going to be. Do you even know?"

A sly smile appeared on Shepard's face again, "I do, but I can't tell you yet. Don't ask why because I won't tell you that either. You'll just have to wait until I come home tonight."

Ashley seemed disappointed that Shepard wasn't going to tell her who his partner was but decided not to push. Shepard needed to get to work and she didn't want to make him late. Instead she brought Shepard in for a kiss.

"I love you," she said when the kiss broke.

"I love you too Ash," Shepard replied.

Before leaving, Shepard knelt back down so that his head was level with Ashley's stomach. He gently rubbed it as he started speaking to the baby.

"You be good to your mom kiddo," he said, "I'll be home soon."

After giving Ashley's stomach a gentle kiss, Shepard got up to leave the room. He gave one final wave goodbye to Ashley and proceeded to exit the apartment. As he closed the door behind him, he felt like he was going from one world to another. The world behind him: a peaceful family life. The world ahead of him: the dark, unpredictable life of a homicide detective.

* * *

If there was a downside to the Citadel wards not having a day/night cycle, it was the fact that nothing ever stopped running. With C-SEC, that meant there was never a slow period. Though some officers were just starting their shifts, the busyness didn't slow down. So when Detective Garrus Vakarian walked into headquarters, he instantly found himself having to help a salarian and human officer who were struggling to get an intoxicated krogan into a holding cell. With the additional muscle Garrus provided, they were finally able to get the krogan into the cell.

"Thanks Vakarian." said the human officer, "hopefully this guy will settle down when he's had a chance to sober up."

"No problem," Garrus replied, "this is probably one of the more fun ways to start my shift. Drunk and disorderly?"

"Yes sir," the salarian officer replied, "lucky for him though his friends called us before he could start doing serious damage. Considering he's a krogan, it wouldn't have taken much longer for him to do that."

"True enough. Anything else going on I should know about?"

The salarian officer nodded, "Commander Bailey wanted you to report to his office when you got here."

"Really? Did he say why?"

The human officer smiled deviously, "you're not going to like it Vakarian. Apparently you are not going to be the lone wolf around here anymore. Bailey wants to introduce you to your new partner."

Garrus tensed up when he heard the word "partner". Since retuning to C-SEC shortly after the Reaper War ended, he had been paired up with several different partners. He knew that the regulations stated that all detectives needed partners but he just couldn't seem to keep any of the ones he was paired with. Many of the officers who were familiar with Garrus' early career figured he scared them away with his tendency to not always go by the book when on cases. While that may have been true in some of the cases, the remaining partnerships dissolved because Garrus' partners were incompetent in one way or another. In one case, his partner was revealed to be a mole planted by a criminal organization. It was after that incident that Garrus made up his mind that he would never have another partner regardless of what the regulations said. It was a shame for him that Bailey didn't seem to be willing to let him do that.

After dropping off some stuff at his desk, Garrus made his way up to Bailey's office. On the way, he started thinking of how he was going to convince Bailey not to go through with assigning him a partner. If the detective Bailey had in mind was already up there, Garrus knew he was going to have to be polite about it so as not to risk offending the detective in the process. He had just come up with an idea of what he was going to say when he approached Bailey's office door. The door was already open and he could see Bailey inside sitting at his desk working on some paperwork. From where he was, Garrus couldn't see anybody else in the room. He figured the detective who was going to be his new partner hadn't arrived yet. It was probably better that way as it allowed him to be able to speak his mind without having to be polite. He gently knocked on the doorframe to get Bailey's attention.

"Come in," Bailey said without looking up from his desk.

"You wanted to see me?" Garrus asked as he entered the office.

It was then Bailey looked up to face Garrus, "yes I did. I wanted to introduce you to…"

"Look sir, I know why you wanted to see me. Let me save you some time. I don't want a new partner. I don't care who you have picked out because odds are it will end just like the others. They will either prove to be incompetent or I'll scare them off."

Suddenly a voice from behind Garrus spoke, "well Garrus I wouldn't say I'm incompetent and your ugly mug has never scared me away when we worked together in the past."

Garrus thought he recognized the voice but it couldn't be…him. He was proven wrong when he turned towards the source of the voice. Sure enough the voice belonged to Shepard, his best friend and former commanding officer. After recovering from the initial surprise of seeing Shepard, Garrus gave him a big hug.

"I can't believe it's you Shepard," Garrus said when the hug broke, "you were still a patrolman the last time I saw you. How did you make homicide so fast?"

"I promoted him," said Bailey, "Shepard's already shown me once that he has what it takes to be a good detective and I've wanted to make him one since he joined the force. But I knew he needed to spend some time as a patrolman to get his bearings first. Last week I decided to finally offer him the job."

"And since we've worked together before, he figured I would be the one detective you wouldn't turn down having as partner," added Shepard, "I told him that was a safe bet since there's no Shepard without Vakarin."

Garrus smiled and shook Shepard's hand, "well then welcome to the homicide desk Detective Shepard. I couldn't have asked for a better partner."

"Well that's all I needed you for Vakarian," Bailey said as he returned his attention to the paperwork on his desk, "I'll let you give Shepard the tour. If any cases come up, I'll let you know."

Garrus and Shepard nodded and proceeded to leave Bailey's office.

"You know it wasn't easy keeping this a surprise from you Garrus," Shepard said as he and Garrus approached their desks, "I wouldn't even tell Ashley about this because I was afraid she would tell Tali and then Tali would tell you."

"That was a smart move," said Garrus, "I love my wife but she can be a blabber-mouth sometimes. So shall we begin the tour?"

"What are you asking me for Garrus? You're the senior officer now."

A sly smile appeared on Garrus' face, "oh yeah, that's right. I get to boss you around for a change. Oh this is going to be fun."

Shepard chuckled and patted Garrus on the back. He knew that Garrus was joking but the chance to see him excited about being the senior officer was too good to pass up. After leaving some items at his desk, he gestured for Garrus to begin the tour. As they walked through the bullpen, Shepard silently hoped that the excitement of reuniting with Garrus would be the only excitement he would have on his first day as a homicide detective.

* * *

The light from a terminal was the only source of illumination inside the apartment of a quarian woman. Given her emotional state, the darkness of her room was fitting. She was crying while she was typing out a message on the terminal. For a moment her attention was drawn to a photograph next to the terminal. The photograph was of her with a male quarian. The two of them looked like they were very much in love. Sadly looking at the photo now caused the woman to feel hurt. Her crying was on the verge of intensifying when she managed to snap out of her current thought and pulled the photo so that it was face down. She couldn't afford to think about the reason it hurt to look at the photo. The message she was typing on the terminal was more important and she had to send it as soon as possible.

(KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK)

The woman jumped when she heard a knocking at the door. A sense of dread came over her. She wasn't expecting any company nor was she expecting any takeout food deliveries. Before moving to answer the door, she powered down her terminal so that nothing was visible on screen. A second set of knocks were heard while the woman tiptoed towards the door. As she tried to avoid making any noises, she turned on the screen next to the door that was connected to a camera on the other side. With it, she was able to get a clear view of who was knocking. When she saw who it was, one of her eyebrows rose in confusion. The person on the other side was someone she knew but she couldn't figure out why they would be visiting her at that moment. After bouncing back and forth on what to do, she opened the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Shepard's eyes were zeroing in on his target. By all accounts, the shot he was attempting would be difficult for anyone to make. The target was small and a good distance from Shepard's position. But as long as Shepard lined up his shot perfectly and got his breathing controlled to steady his aim, he could hit the target no problem. Once his shot was lined up, Shepard held his breath and…

(COUGH)

The sound of someone coughing behind Shepard stopped him from firing. He rolled his eyes in frustration while other voices shushed the person who coughed. It was then Shepard remembered why he was going to have a harder time making the shot than he normally would. Any other time he had to make a difficult shot, he did it without anyone watching him. Having Garrus and several other C-SEC detectives watching with eager anticipation was making him nervous. Still Shepard was determined to make the shot. After all, he was still a rookie detective and he wanted to prove to the others he had what it took to join their ranks. With everything quiet again, Shepard held his breath, aimed and fired.

(SWISH)

From his desk, Shepard watched as the paper ball he threw flew over several desks and landed perfectly in the wastebasket on the opposite side of the bullpen. He then heard the sound of gasps from the people behind him who were both surprised and impressed that he made the shot. Their reactions caused Shepard to smile as he was proud of himself for succeeding in his goal to impress them. Suddenly the gasps turned to grumbles. Confused by the sudden change in the group's mood, Shepard turned around to see what was going on. What he saw made him smile again.

All the detectives that were watching Shepard make his shot were now gathered around each other and exchanging credits. No doubt settling up bets that were made on whether he would make his shot or not, the large amount of grumbles told Shepard a lot of them had bet against him. As soon as the last bet was settled, the detectives separated and returned to their respective desks. It was then Shepard noticed that the only person who seemed happy with the outcome was Garrus.

"Thanks for playing everybody," Garrus said as he sat down at his desk which was located directly opposite of Shepard's, "I hope you learned something today. You never bet against Shepard."

Listening to Garrus made Shepard feel both happy and slightly embarrassed. On the one hand, he was happy that his best friend had the confidence to bet on him even when no else did. Though that wasn't really a surprise since that was pretty much the story of Shepard and Garrus' friendship. From the very beginning of their fight against the Reapers, Garrus was one of the few people who put his money on Shepard's warnings even though the rest of the galaxy didn't want to believe them. On the other hand, Shepard kind of wished that Garrus didn't make it sound like he was unbeatable. All of Shepard's accomplishments in his military career had earned him a reputation that made him sound like an unstoppable super soldier. As far as Shepard was concerned, he was just a regular guy who had his shortcomings just like everyone else. Just by looking back on his hunt for Dana Thompson was enough to prove that to him. He may have caught her but it took him two years of searching and six of his friends were killed before he did. If he was the super soldier everyone thought he was, he would have found her sooner and without losing anyone. Realizing he was letting his mind wander to a place he didn't want to revisit, Shepard tried to focus on something else.

It wasn't easy for Shepard to focus on something else however since it was pretty quiet in the bullpen. His first day had been uneventful, something he was extremely grateful for. He'd rather be bored in the bullpen than having someone die just to give him a case to work. Coming into work on his second day to find there were still no cases, he started tossing paper balls into wastebaskets in his latest attempt to break the boredom. It was only after Garrus came into the bullpen and boasted that he could make a shot from across the bullpen that Shepard found himself the subject of the latest bullpen betting pool. While it was embarrassing, it did add a bit of extra excitement to Shepard's day. Now that tossing papers was becoming dull, Shepard decided the next best thing to do was catch up with Garrus.

"So Garrus," he said, "how'd Tali react when you told her we were partners."

Garrus chuckled, "by squealing like a fan girl. Apparently she has been secretly hoping that you and I would become partners one day ever since you first joined C-SEC. She says congratulations on the promotion by the way."

"I'll be sure to tell her thanks the next time I see her. Ashley was pretty excited too when I told her last night. She's already talking about how she and Tali can add being homicide detective wives to their list of things to bond over. I told her the two of them should start a club."

The joke made Garrus chuckle again, "yeah. I'm sure that some of the other detectives' wives would be interested in joining. They would just need to come up with name. How about 'The Homicide Detective Wives Club.'"

"VAKARIAN! SHEPARD!"

Shepard and Garrus' smiles vanished when they heard Bailey call them. A feeling of dread began to overtake them as they both knew there was only one reason Bailey would be calling for them the way he was. They looked in Bailey's direction and saw him typing something on his omni-tool. A few seconds later, both of their omni-tools chimed as they each received a new message.

"We just got a call that a quarian woman has been found dead in her apartment. All signs point to it being a homicide. I just sent the preliminary info and address to your omni-tools. Move out!"

After hearing Bailey's last order, Shepard and Garrus rose from their seats to leave. They pulled out their respected sidearms from their desks and headed out of the bullpen. While they were heading out, Shepard was mentally preparing himself. He was really about to begin his first case as a homicide detective. A quarian woman was dead and now it was up to him and Garrus to figure out what happened, who was responsible and bring that person to justice.

* * *

Since Garrus was the only one who had a C-SEC issue skycar, it was agreed that he would drive to the crime scene. While on route, Shepard read through the information Bailey had sent to their omni-tools. The call they were responding to had come in from a quarian woman named Jala'Cal vas Tonbay. She had stopped by the apartment of her friend Shara'Vael vas Moreh to pick her up for a girls day. Upon arrival, she found Shara in her living room dead with multiple wounds on her chest. Initial reports from the first responders indicated that the front door had been hacked leading them to speculate that it was possibly a robbery gone wrong. It was going to be up to Shepard and Garrus to try and determine if that was actually the case.

"So partner," Shepard said after he finished reading the report, "any words of advice for the rookie before we arrive?"

"Not really," Garrus replied, "this isn't your first time at a crime scene so you know how to handle yourself. Just know that it's okay to admit if you're stumped. If you're not sure what to do, come find me and we'll see what we can figure out. Beyond that, I'm going to let you investigate the scene however you choose."

The apartment building where Shara lived was easy to find thanks to the amount of police vehicles parked outside. One thing Garrus pointed out as a positive thing was that there were no news crews on the scene. He explained that it would be a lot easier for them to do their job since they didn't have to contend with any media circuses. Worst case scenario they would probably have to deal with a few nosy neighbors but they would be a lot easier to control than a bunch of reporters. When their skycar touched down, Shepard and Garrus were greeted by an asari officer. The officer seemed particularly amused upon seeing Shepard.

"I can't believe the rumors were true," she said, "I had heard you got a new partner Detective Vakarian. Whatever happened to your 'no more partners' vow?"

Garrus chuckled, "what can I say? The commander finally found one that I like. Detective Shepard, this is Officer T'Parro. We've worked several crime scenes together over the years."

"Pleased to meet you T'Parro," Shepard said as he shook T'Parro's hand.

"Likewise Detective. If you two will follow me I'll take you up to the crime scene."

T'Parro let Shepard and Garrus through the apartment building's lobby and to the elevator that would take them to the floor Shara's apartment was on. During the elevator ride, she gave them a rundown on what would be awaiting them. There were two officers guarding the entrance to the apartment. Inside the apartment were a handful of crime scene techs processing the scene and the medical examiner. Most of their work was done and they were waiting for Shepard and Garrus to arrive so they could give their reports. Besides them, there were a couple of neighbors peeking from their apartments but the officers guarding the door were keeping back any that tried to get a closer look.

Upon exiting the elevator, Shepard and Garrus got a brief glimpse of what T'Parro was talking about when they saw officers telling a neighbor to step away from the room. The neighbor initially persisted in trying to learn what was going on but finally walked away when the officers warned that they would restrain him if he didn't. Glancing down the hallway, Shepard noticed other neighbors peeking out from their doors. He shook his head in bewilderment. What was it about murder that made people curious enough that they would try to get a peek at what was going on? If it wasn't for the fact that his job required him to investigate murder scenes, he probably would avoid them like the plague since he had seen enough death to last a lifetime.

Shepard and Garrus were allowed past the officers guarding the door and instantly their eyes darted across the room to process everything that was going on. Sadly no matter how many times Shepard tried to look at something else, his eyes kept returning to the horrible sight in the living room. With a salarian who Shepard assumed was the medical examiner standing over her, the late Shara'Vael vas Moreh was lying on the floor near a corner of the room. He could just make out several holes on her chest. Shepard couldn't tell for sure if they were stab or bullet wounds. Remembering that the body wasn't discovered until Shara's friend came to pick her up, he figured the neighbors didn't hear any gun shots. So they were either stab wounds or the killer had their gun equipped with a silencer. The only way Shepard would be able to find out for sure was when he and Garrus talked to the medical examiner.

"Okay Shepard," Garrus said with a sly smile, "I've already noticed a few things of interest but I'm not going to tell you what they are."

Shepard looked at Garrus with confusion, "why not?"

"Because this is the perfect opportunity for me to see how well you handle a crime scene on your own. One of the reasons Bailey made you a homicide detective was because he was impressed by the way you worked the crime scene of Kelly's murder."

Garrus was referring to Dr. Kelly Chambers. She was a psychologist who also worked as Shepard's yeoman during his mission to stop the enigmatic race known as the Collectors from abduction human colonists. Kelly was sadly also one of the friends Shepard lost thanks to Dana Thompson. Her death had been ruled as the result of a brain hemorrhage but Bailey, who was leading the investigation, suspected there was more to her death than there appeared. When he discovered Shepard was listed as Kelly's emergency contact, he called Shepard and asked him to come to the crime scene. Shepard was the one who figured out that Kelly had actually been murdered and that the killer worked for Dana who he only knew as the mystery backer then. It was that day Bailey saw the potential in Shepard that convinced him Shepard would make a good homicide detective.

"I want to see that for myself. The best way to do that is to see if you'll notice the same things I did. So go ahead, take a look around and then come find me when you're done. I'll be with the medical examiner."

With that said, Garrus left Shepard standing with a stunned expression. Shepard thought for a while about what Garrus had said before he finally smiled and chuckled. It may have initially seemed crazy that Garrus was letting him work his first crime scene solo but upon thinking about it, he saw the reasoning behind Garrus' logic. Garrus was an experienced investigator and if he said that he already noticed something, than he would take his word for it. The challenge now was for Shepard to see if he can notice the same things.

According to the report, Shala's murder was believed to be the result of a robbery gone wrong because the front door showed evidence of hacking. Glancing behind him, Shepard could see a tech working on the door likely trying to study the hack used to open it. When he turned back to face the living room, he found himself wondering what would a potential burglar see in the apartment that would make them think it was worth robbing. From what Shepard could see, Shala wasn't somebody living a life of wealth and luxury. The few items that a thief might want to steal appeared to be accounted for. It was possible that the killer decided after killing Shara that it wasn't worth the risk of getting caught by sticking around to get a few miscellaneous valuables.

"But why would the killer break into an apartment when the occupant was home?" Shepard asked himself. "It's practically burglary 101 to wait for when a home is vacant before breaking in. There's less chance of getting caught and less chance for something like this to happen."

With the question still lingering in his head, Shepard started walking around the room. He barely took a few steps when he noticed evidence markers labeling two separate piles of broken glass. One pile was located between a coffee table and a couch. The other was scattered along the corner of the room opposite Shala's body. Shepard knelt down by one of the piles to get a closer look. The first thing he noticed was dark colored stain underneath the glass. Based on the smell coming from it, Shepard could tell it wasn't blood. It smelled more like wine. Besides the wine stain, there was something else in the pile that caught Shepard's eye. He pulled out a pen from his pocket and used it to move some of the glass pieces around. Buried in the shards was a circular piece that was a different color than the others. He asked a crime scene tech for a tool that would help him pick up the piece so he could examine it closer. Upon close inspection, Shepard realized that it was the base of a drinking glass. He quickly checked the other pile and found a similar base buried underneath the other shards as well as another wine stain.

"So we have two shattered drinking glasses," Shepard thought as he looked around the room, "but where's the rest of the mess? If there had been some kind of a struggle in here, more stuff should have been tossed around and damaged."

The last place Shepard decided to look was on the nearby desk. There were only two items on top of it, a partially open terminal and a picture frame that was laying flat. Shepard carefully opened the terminal and was greeted by a login screen. He knew it was a long shot that he would be able see what was on the terminal without having to go through a login screen. However he felt it was worth trying since the terminal was partially open. It was likely Shala was working on something before she was killed. He made a note to ask a tech to take the terminal and see if they could get onto it. If the murder wasn't the result of a robbery gone wrong, the terminal could have some info that would tell them what angle to pursue next. Or maybe the picture frame would. Lifting up the frame, Shepard waited for the picture to appear on the screen. Within seconds, an image of Shala appeared. She was wrapped in the arms of a male quarian and the looks on their faces seemed to indicate they were deeply in love with each other. It was what Shepard considered to be a sweet picture. The only reason Shepard could think of for why Shala would have the frame pulled down would be if they had a falling out.

Convinced that he had seen everything that he needed to see, Shepard decided to join Garrus and the medical examiner by Shala's body. Though it wouldn't be the first dead body Shepard had ever seen, he took a few deep breaths to ready himself for what he was going to see. Most of the dead bodies he'd seen in the past were only fallen allies and enemies he would glance at briefly while in battlefields. It was the times where Shepard actually looked at the body closely where he felt uneasy. But looking at bodies was now going to be a regular part of Shepard's job and he was going to have to get used to it. Once he was ready, he walked towards Garrus and the medical examiner. As he got closer, Shepard could hear the medical examiner speaking. To Shepard's confusion, he didn't appear to be talking to Garrus who was the only person standing by him. It was then Shepard noticed that the medical examiner wasn't really talking. It sounded more like mumbling. There was almost something familiar about the way he was mumbling but Shepard couldn't quite place it. His thoughts were interrupted when Garrus noticed him approaching and spoke to him.

"How are you doing?" he asked. "Anything sticking out to you?"

Shepard nodded, "a couple of things. Hopefully they're the same things you noticed. I'd like to hear what the medical examiner has to say before I share my thoughts though."

Garrus smiled, "smart choice. A good detective should always wait until they have all the available facts before posing theories. Besides if you don't talk to the medical examiner, you're going to miss out on the one good surprise you'll see today."

"What do you mean?"

"Doctor," Garrus said turning to the medical examiner, "this is my new partner, Detective Shepard. Detective Shepard, allow me to introduce you to the medical examiner I've worked with on most of my cases, Dr. Belon Solus."

Shepard's eyes widened with surprise when he heard the name, "Solus? Is he related to…?"

The man introduced as Dr. Solus stopped mumbling and turned to face Shepard and Garrus before Shepard could finish his question, "Partner? Yes. Heard the commander assigned you a new one. Optimistic this partnership will last longer than others. Pleased to meet you Detective Shepard. Know a lot about you from Uncle Mordin's stories."

Sure enough, the medical examiner Shepard was looking at was the nephew of his former squadmate Dr. Mordin Solus. Mordin was a salarian scientist that Shepard recruited for the Collector mission. It was thanks to Mordin's scientific expertise that Shepard and his squad had the countermeasures they needed to avoid becoming paralyzed by the drones the Collectors used to immobilize the colonists. Later Mordin would use his medical knowledge to develop a cure for the krogan genophage, a biological weapon that severely reduced the probability of viable krogan pregnancies. Sadly Mordin passed away when he sacrificed himself to ensure that the cure was successfully dispersed. Sill Mordin was someone Shepard couldn't easily forget thanks to his vast knowledge of science, his quick-talking speech and his unexpected singing talents.

Seeing Belon in the flesh brought Shepard back to one of his talks with Mordin during the Collector mission. During that talk, Mordin mentioned that he had a nephew who was a geneticist and had secured university tenure at sixteen years old. Based on Mordin's description of Belon, Shepard assumed Belon was planning on following in his uncle's footsteps. His assumption would have been further strengthened by the fact Belon seemed to have Morin's quick talking speech since it indicated Belon looked up to his uncle. Yet, further adding to Shepard's surprise, Belon was introduced to him as a medical examiner which was a relatively far jump from genetics. Belon seemed to pick up on Shepard's surprise and continued speaking.

"Surprise understandable. Wasn't expecting to see me in this line of work."

"Yeah," Shepard replied, "when your uncle mentioned you, he said you were in genetics. How'd you go from being a geneticist to a medical examiner?"

"Long story. Best told at later time. For now, deliver report."

"The floor's yours Doc," said Garrus, "what can you tell us about how Ms. Shara'Vael died?"

Belon knelt back down and gestured to the multiple holes on Shara's chest, "cause of death, multiple stab wounds. Initial examination puts time of death between 2100 and 2300 last night. Based on wound locations, damage mostly done to the heart. Note also hand impression on mouth. Killer likely covered her mouth. Kept her from screaming."

Garrus nodded, "between that and the fact most of the tenants were likely asleep at that time, it would explain why no one heard anything. What else, Doc?"

"One peculiar thing of note. Found twenty stab wounds total."

"Twenty?" Shepard gasped, "are you sure?"

"Yes. Strange. Fatal blow likely among first dealt. No reason to continue stabbing. Sadly can only tell how murderer killed victim. Up to you two to figure out why murder committed this way."

"Thanks Doc," Garrus said when Belon finished his report.

Rubbing his chin in deep thought, Shepard stepped away from Shala's body and paced around the room. All the while trying to ignore the anticipated stare from Garrus. Shepard knew that Garrus was going to ask for his thoughts any second. He was almost ready to share them but he felt like there was one more thing he needed to check. Hie eyes were suddenly drawn to the nearby kitchen. Sitting on the countertop was a kitchen knife set.

"Something on your mind Shepard?" Garrus asked when he noticed Shepard's intense focus on the knife set.

"Has anybody found the murder weapon?" Shepard asked while he made his way to the kitchen.

"No sign of it," Garrus replied, "the techs were thorough with their search. If the weapon was here, they would have found it."

Inside the kitchen, Shepard closely inspected the knife set on the countertop. All the slots were filled as all the knives were accounted for. He then started going through the drawers. He stopped when he came to a drawer containing silverware. The drawer was well organized and nothing seemed out of place or missing, especially in the section where the knives were kept. He closed the drawer and returned to the living room. With the new information Shepard gained from the kitchen, he was ready to talk to Garrus.

"Well Detective Shepard," Garrus said when Shepard rejoined him, "you ready to give your initial thoughts on what happened here?"


	3. Chapter 3

Shepard almost felt like he was a performer on a stage in front of an audience. All the crime scene techs, Belon, T'Parro and Garrus were watching and waiting for him to speak. Fortunately speaking in front of a crowd was not something new to Shepard. During his military career, he had to give several motivation speeches to the soldiers under his command before entering into battle. Compared to those moments, giving his initial thoughts on the case was going to be a piece of cake.

"The first thing that I can tell you is that this was not a burglary gone wrong," Shepard began, "in fact it's not even a case of breaking and entering. Shara let her killer inside the apartment."

One of the crime scene techs chuckled at Shepard's statement, "you're already off to a bad start Detective. The door was hacked open, remember?"

"I do remember that," Shepard replied, "except the door was hacked after the murder had already been committed. The killer hacked it so that we would think this was a burglary."

"Why are you convinced this wasn't a burglary Shepard?" asked Garrus.

"Take a look around this apartment. There is no sign that anything was removed from here. Even if the killer had been spooked by Shara and had to kill her right when they entered, they wouldn't just take off without at least taking something for their trouble. They had plenty of time to do it. We know that none of the neighbors heard anything and Shara's body wasn't found until this morning. Besides that, I'm not seeing anything in this apartment that would make this place appealing to a would be burglar. A smart burglar would see that this place was too much risk for too little reward."

"Ok," said T'Parro, "so this wasn't a burglary. But why do you think that Shara would let her killer into her apartment? Those stab wounds on her body are serious overkill. Only someone who really hated her would stab her that many times. I can't see Shara letting someone in who hated her that much."

"A fair point T'Parro," Shepard replied, "it's true that it's not easy for anyone to stab a person twenty times. Even someone who was extremely fit would feel exhausted afterwards because of the energy and stamina it takes. The fact this killer did stab Shara twenty times indicates that, as you mentioned, they were so full of rage that they ignored any fatigue they were feeling to continue stabbing her. As for why Shara let someone who hated her that much into her apartment, it's because the killer was restrained enough not to appear threatening when Shara saw them on the viewing monitor and because the killer was someone she knew and trusted."

"How do you figure that?" asked Garrus.

Shepard gestured to the piles of broken glass, "in this room are the remains of two drinking glasses. Both of which still had some wine in them when they were broken. Shara had poured a drink for herself and a guest. She wouldn't do that for a complete stranger and certainly not someone who broke into her apartment. No she let her killer in because it was someone she knew. Someone she knew well and trusted enough that she didn't view them as a threat. Being a good host, she poured drinks and they sat down on the couch to talk. At some point, the conversation got heated. Garrus could you join me on the couch for a second please?"

Garrus did as Shepard asked and took a seat on the couch. Shepard sat down next to him while avoiding the glass pile directly in front of him.

"The conversation got so heated that the killer threw down his glass hard enough that it shattered when it hit floor," Shepard continued while acting out the motions he was describing, "whatever calmness the killer was showing vanished causing the rage T'Parro mentioned to emerge."

"And the sudden outburst causes Shara to stand up and nervously take a step back," Garrus chimed in while also acting out the motions he described, "then what happened?"

With Garrus as his role-playing partner, Shepard demonstrated the final sequence of events that led to Shara death. Shara tried to calm the killer down but was unable to as the killer's anger had reached the point of no return. It was at that point that the killer pulled out the knife. Upon seeing the knife, Shara threw her glass at the killer and tried to run away. However the killer was able to dodge it and the glass shattered when it hit the wall resulting in the other glass pile on the floor. Quickly recovering from the dodge, the killer charged at Shara and tackled her to the ground. From there, they got on top of Shara so she couldn't get up and proceeded to stab her. And that was the end of Shara'Vael vas Moreh.

"So it sounds like this was a crime of passion," said T'Parro, "the killer was just a friend having a drink with Shara when something set them off and they killed her."

"Not quite," said Shepard, "in order for this to have been a crime of passion, there can't be any premeditation involved on the killer's part. However the murder weapon is nowhere to be found and all of the knives Shara owns appear to be accounted for. If the killer didn't use any of the knives that were already in this apartment, then they had to have brought a knife with them and then left the apartment with it. The only reason the killer would have brought a knife with them was because they fully intended on killing Shara if the conversation they had didn't work out in their favor. In short, what we have here is not the result of a robbery gone wrong but a premeditated murder by someone Shara knew with a deep hatred for her that they were compelled to stab her twenty times."

The room was quiet after Shepard had finished explaining his thoughts. He tried to read the faces of everyone to get a sense of if they were impressed or not. It was a futile attempt as he was in a room of seasoned investigators who were trained in hiding what they were thinking. Eventually all eyes drifted towards Garrus. Shepard figured everyone was letting Garrus give the critique since he was the senior investigator in the room. The silence was getting to be deafening and Shepard was starting to wish Garrus would say something soon.

(CLAP...CLAP...CLAP)

"Well done Detective Shepard," Garrus said while clapping, "you passed with flying colors. All of your conclusions were exactly the same ones I made."

"Really?" Shepard said with a smile, "you're not just saying that to make me feel good?"

"Nope. Unlike certain people who purposely miss in a shooting contest, I tell people the truth regardless if it hurts them or not."

Shepard chuckled when Garrus brought up their shooting contest they had during the Reaper War. For the longest time Shepard thought Garrus was unaware that he only won the contest because Shepard purposely missed his last shot. Then Garrus revealed during the mystery backer mission that he knew the truth. Since then, anytime Shepard loss to Garrus in a contest, Garrus would jokingly ask Shepard if he had lost on purpose again.

"So partner," Shepard said to change the subject, "now that you've seen my detective skills in action, what do we do next?"

"We talk to Jala'Cal," Garrus replied, "the friend who found Shara's body. We'll see if she can tell us anything about who might have wanted to hurt Shara."

"I was wondering when we were going to talk to her. Why didn't we talk to her when we first got here?"

"Remember what I said about how a good detective gathers all the facts before reaching any conclusions? The same is true for when they're about to interview someone. By knowing some facts beforehand, we'll have an easier time noticing if Jala lies about something. I'm not saying I think she's the killer. It's just that a lot of times people will try to hide something they think isn't relevant to the investigation."

"Point taken."

T'Parro, where's Jala'Cal right now?"

"My partner is with her just down the hall." replied T'Parro "being near the crime scene was too much for her so I thought it best if she waited for you somewhere out of sight of all this. If you two will follow me, I'll take you to her."

"Lead the way T'Parro," said Shepard.

As they followed T'Parro out of the apartment, Shepard told Garrus about the items he examined on Shara's desk. Garrus replied that he would make sure one of the techs took the terminal back to headquarters to try and access the content on it. As for the picture, Garrus said it was a good find as it gave them another line of questioning for Jala. Statistically most murders were the result of domestic disputes which made any lovers Shara had the first suspects for them to consider. While Shepard agreed with that logic, something in his gut told him that Shara wasn't killed by the man in the photo. He wasn't quite sure why he felt that way though. Before he could discuss his hunch with Garrus, he noticed that T'Parro had stopped walking and was looking around with a confused expression.

"Something wrong T'Parro?" Garrus asked upon noticing the same thing.

"They're not here," T'Parro replied with a hint of nervousness in her voice, "I told my partner to have Jala wait here for you two. There's no reason for them to be anywhere else...unless..."

"What?" asked Shepard.

T'Parro didn't answer Shepard and instead pulled up her omni-tool to make a radio call, "this is T'Parro, does anyone have a twenty on Jorin?"

"Wilson here," replied a voice on T'Parro's omni-tool, "he left the building shortly after the detectives arrived. I asked him where he was going and all he said was he would be back in a few minutes with a surprise."

T'Parro rubbed her head like she was tending a headache, "not again. Well what did he do with Jala'Cal?"

"She's down in the lobby with me. I've been watching her since Jorin took off."

"All right. The detectives and I are on our way down. T'Parro out."

After finishing her call, T'Parro walked past Shepard and Garrus towards the elevator. Shepard looked to Garrus for an explanation but Garrus just shrugged his shoulders. They joined T'Parro in the elevator and rode it down to the lobby. The elevator had barely started moving when Wilson's voice was heard on T'Parro's omni-tool again. However he wasn't speaking in the calm professional tone he did earlier. Instead he was speaking in a loud, frantic tone which was barely heard over what sounded like a commotion in the background.

"We've got a situation down here! Jorin just got back with a quarian male in handcuffs and Jala attacked the guy the minute she saw him!"

Sure enough, when the elevator doors opened the trio was greeted by the sight of a scuffle. A quarian woman who Shepard and Garrus assumed was Jala'Cal was sitting on top of a handcuffed quarian male and viciously hitting him. Two C-SEC officers, a human and a turian were struggling to pull Jala off of the man. Shepard and Garrus charged out of the elevator to assist the officers. The extra manpower was enough to pull Jala off but that soon proved to be half the battle. They had to keep Jala restrained as she struggled to break free while shouting at the handcuffed male.

"LET ME GO! I'M NOT DONE WITH THAT MONSTER YET!"

"MONSTER?!" shouted the man as he was being helped up by T'Parro. "SAYS THE WOMAN WHO ATTACKED ME FOR NO REASON! OFFICERS WHAT IS GOING ON?! I DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT I'M DOING HERE!"

"ENOUGH!" Garrus shouted causing everyone to freeze. "Now we can work this out but everyone needs to calm down."

"Officer how do you expect me to be calm?" asked the male quarian. "This officer stormed into my office at the embassy, arrested me and brought me here without any sort of explanation."

"Watch it you," said the turian officer who Shepard was suspecting was the Jorin mentioned in the radio conversations T'Parro had before they arrived, "this is Detective Vakarian. You'll treat him with respect or you're going to find yourself in deeper trouble."

"Wait a minute," Shepard said, "sir did you say you work at the embassy?"

"Yes," the male quarain replied, "I'm Torro'Zal vas Raya, aide to Ambassador Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

Shepard and Garrus looked nervously at each other after Torro identified himself. It was bad enough that Jorin had arrested a staff member from the quarian embassy but it also had to be the aide of the ambassador who happened to be Garrus' wife. They both knew things had just gotten messy in more ways than one. While Shepard was trying figure out how Jorin could be stupid enough to make such a giant mistake, Garrus looked at Jorin with probably the angriest glare Shepard had seen him give in awhile.

"Officer Kadarus!" Garrus scolded. "You are the one who's going to be in trouble if you don't have a good explanation for this."

Hearing Garrus scold him caused the turian officer, now identified as Jorin Kadarus to freeze up. Turian faces were normally hard to read but Shepard could pick up signs that Jorin was a little bit scared but mostly confused. It reminded Shepard of the way a kid would look when they didn't understand what they did wrong. When Jorin still didn't speak, Garrus scolded him some more.

"T'Parro said you were supposed to be watching Ms. Jala'Cal. Instead you leave your post, waltz into an embassy and bring out an ambassador's aide in handcuffs. Where in your orders did you get the idea you were supposed to risk causing a diplomatic incident?"

"De...Detective Vakarian sir," Jorin stuttered, "you don't understand. I just solved your case for you. While I was watching the friend, she told me that your victim had just ended a relationship with this guy. It was a really messy breakup as he didn't take it well."

"Wait," Torro interrupted, "are you talking about Shara? That's not..."

"Quiet you! I told you that you have the right to remain silent so I suggest you exercise it. Sorry sir. As I was saying, with that information and using my brilliant detective skills that I've been telling you about, I determined he snapped, broke into her apartment and killed her. It's a classic case of a jilted lover killing his ex after she broke his heart. Once we bring this guy back to C-SEC HQ and explain this to the quarian embassy, everything will be fine. The case will be closed and then we can talk about me finally becoming your partner."

All four C-SEC officers looked at Jorin with varied expressions. Neither one of them however were looking at him in a way that said they were impressed by his ''brilliant detective skills". Wilson, the human officer, seemed to be trying to hold back a laugh as he headed back to his post. T'Parro covered her face with her hand in an attempt to hide the embarrassment she was feeling. Garrus just rolled his eyes like he was used to hearing crazy stuff from Kadarus. As for Shepard, he was just trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Who is this guy?" he thought to himself. "And what did he mean about becoming Garrus' partner?"

"I'm all for that officer," Jala said interrupting Shepard's thoughts, "lock that monster up and throw away the key. Though he does deserve much worse for killing Shara the way he did."

Suddenly the pieces came together in Torro's head and his eyes started filling with tears, "Shara...Shara's dead? N...no she can't be. No!"

Torro dropped to his knees and began sobbing. If his hands had not been cuffed behind his back he likely would have covered his face with them. The sight of the broken quarian in front of him brought Shepard back to several moments in his military career when he had to give next of kin notifications after someone under his command had been killed in action. The reaction he was seeing was exactly the same as what he got from the people he notified. The initial confusion as they tried to figure out if they had heard correctly, the shock when they realized they had, a brief moment of denial and finally the overwhelming sadness when they accept the fact that their loved one was really dead. Everything Shepard was seeing seemed to prove his hunch that Shara's boyfriend wasn't the killer. Unfortunately Jorin didn't seem to think so as he moved to force Torro back onto his feet. Shepard instinctively stepped between the two men and gave Jorin his own angry look.

"Leave him alone," he scolded, "can't you see Mr. Torro'Zal is broken up. He just found out that someone he loved is dead."

Jorin looked at Shepard like he had lost his mind before turning to Garrus, "sir who is this officer and why is he protecting this scumbag?"

Shepard calmly pulled out his badge and held it up to Jorin's face, "I'm Detective Shepard, C-SEC Homicide and Detective Vakarian's new partner. I'm also not protecting a scumbag but an innocent man who is being wrongly accused of murder."

If Jorin was confused before by the scolding he got from Garrus when he was expecting to be praised for making an arrest, then he was completely lost after Shepard had finished speaking. Shepard didn't know if it was because Jorin was surprised to hear Garrus had a new partner already or because of the fact he had told Jorin that the man he arrested was innocent. Once again however his thoughts were interrupted by an outburst from Jala.

"INNOCENT?! THAT MONSTER KILLED MY BEST FRIEND AND YOU'RE CALLING HIM INNOCENT?! WHAT KIND OF A DETECTIVE ARE YOU?!"

"Ms. Jala'Cal," Garrus said in an attempt to calm Jala down, "I'm sure my partner has a good reason for his theory and he'll tell us what it is if you just let him finish."

"BUT...!" Jala said before being cut of by Jorin who had come out of his shock.

"But sir, you didn't hear the stuff that she told me. Once you do, you'll see that I'm right and that this so-called detective IS protecting a murderer."

Garrus was about to scold Jorin again but was stopped when he noticed Shepard shaking his head, "it's okay partner. Officer Kadarus does have a point. We did after all come down her to talk to Ms. Jala'Cal to get some insight into who would have wanted Ms. Shara'Vael dead. Let's hear what she has to say. Please, go ahead Ms. Jala'Cal. Tell us why you're so sure that Mr. Torro'Zal killed your friend."

"Like I told Officer Kadarus," Jala said after taking a calming breath, "the two of them were together for almost a year until Shara broke it off yesterday. To say Torro didn't take it well would be a massive understatement. Shara called me last night crying because of how badly it went. She said he exploded and she was afraid he was going to hit her. Thankfully he didn't but the last thing he said to her was that if he couldn't have her then no one could. The reason I offered to take her shopping today was to help cheer her up. But thanks to him that didn't happen. Don't you see, he just couldn't get over her breaking up with him so he killed her."

"What?" Torro said after he had started regaining some composure. "I loved Shara. I would never hurt her. Besides that's not what hap..."

Jorin rolled his eyes, "that's what they all say. See sir, it's just like I said. A classic case of murder by a scorned ex-lover. I'm sure Detective Shepard meant well but I think it's plain to see he's not ready for the homicide desk. We can talk about my taking his place as your partner once we get back to HQ."

Shepard should have been insulted by what Jorin was saying but he was too busy thinking about something else. He had watched and listened carefully while Jala explained her reasoning for suspecting Torro of being the killer. Though he hadn't been trained by C-SEC, his time in the Alliance featured several occasions where he had to question people and he had picked up a few tricks in telling if they were lying or not. As he listened to Jala, a couple of alarms went off in his head. The first thing he noticed was that her entire case for Torro's guilt was based on his supposed reaction the day of the breakup. It was true that no one would take being broken up with well but that didn't automatically make them willing to kill over it. They usually also needed to have a history of violent, angry outbursts but Jala didn't mention Torro having anything like that. If there was anything in Torro's past that would further prove he was capable of murder, Shepard wasn't seeing it and for some reason Jala wasn't sharing it.

The other thing that bothered Shepard was that Jala didn't even mention the reason for the breakup. If it wasn't because Torro had an abusive nature, then what other reason would Shara have had for breaking up with him? Of the few reasons for a relationship falling apart that Shepard could think of off the top of his head, none of them seemed like a logical motive for murder. Again it was strange that Jala was not giving more details that would help catch her best friend's killer.

The last thing that was bothering Shepard was not something that Jala said. While giving her statement, Shepard noticed that Jala would occasionally throw Torro nasty looks. Anybody else would have likely guessed it was because she was angry with Torro for murdering her friend but Shepard felt like there was something else to it. There was definitely anger in Shara's eyes but it seemed like that was all there was in them. She didn't have any of the pain or sadness a person would feel about someone they knew killing their friend.

It was only when Shepard applied one final piece of evidence that things made sense. The evidence was something that had been on his mind ever since he found it and was the thing that made him initially believe that Shara's lover (now revealed to be Torro) was not the killer. He just hadn't figured out why until he heard Jala's statement. With his mind made up, he walked over to Garrus and whispered something to him. Garrus was initially surprisd by what Shepard said but then his eyes crossed with anger as he turned to address Jorin. Sensing that he was about to be scolded again, Jorin took a few cautious steps back as Garrus approached him.

"Officer Kadarus!" Garrus said sternly, "we are not going to back to HQ because we are going to take Mr. Torro'Zal back to the quarian embassy. On the way there, the only thing we are going to be talking about is how you are going to apologize for WRONGFULLY ARRESTING AN AMBASSADOR'S AIDE!"

"But...but sir..." Jorin tried to speak.

"THAT'S AN ORDER! Officer T'Parro, will you give my partner and Ms. Jala'Cal a ride back to HQ?"

"Yes sir," T'Parro replied anxiously as she had been waiting to get out of the embarassing situation her partner was causing.

A stunned Jala could only watch as Garrus helped Torro up to his feet and led him and Jorin out of the building and to the parking lot. She would have remained speechless until Shepard and T'Parro approached her and she saw that Shepard was pulling out handcuffs.

"WHAT THE HELL DETECTIVE!" she shouted. "YOU'RE ARRESTING ME BUT LETTING THAT MURDERER WALK?!"

"Enough Ms. Jala'Cal!" Shepard said in an authoritative tone, "I have to say that I'm really surprised at you. As Ms. Shara'Vael's friend, you should be wanting to do everything you can to help us catch her killer. Instead the only thing you've been doing is lie to us in an attempt to get the wrong man arrested for the crime."


	4. Chapter 4

Jala didn't take Shepard's last statement very well. Before Shepard could start to put the handcuffs on her wrists, Jala started calling him several names that Shepard would never allow himself to repeat. On top of that, she accused him of wrongfully calling her a liar. Officer T'Parro, who was at that moment having to hold Jala still so that Shepard could put on the cuffs, gave Shepard a nervous look as she was wondering if Jala's accusation was right.

Despite the difficulty Jala was causing him, Shepard appeared completely unfazed by everything she was shouting. In fact, a sly smile appeared on his face when Jala made her accusation. The reason for the smile was because he knew something that Jala didn't. One of the things Shepard had learned about interrogations was that it was important to never accuse someone of lying without proof. To do so would give ammunition for a defense lawyer in a trial. Shepard didn't have to worry about that though because he had proof that Jala had been lying to him and he was ready to reveal it to her.

"Ms. Jala'Cal," he said when he finally locked the cuffs on Jala's wrists, "you told us you believed that Mr. Torro'Zal killed Ms. Shara'Vael because he couldn't get over her breaking up with him. Except the truth is that he was the one who broke up with her. I found a picture of the two of them embracing on Ms. Shara'Vael's desk. It had been pulled down so that was how I already knew that things weren't going well between them. The thing is, if she had been the one who broke it off, she would have deleted the picture completely. Sure she pulled the picture down because she was heartbroken by him breaking up with her and it was difficult for her to look at the picture anymore. But I wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't delete the picture because she was secretly hoping that they would work it out and get back together."

Unknown to Jala and T'Parro, Shepard was speaking from experience with his deductions. Back in the early years of his and Ashley's relationship, their relationship hit a rough patch when a series of events and misunderstandings led to Ashley calling Shepard a traitor and refusing to join him on his current mission. Shepard didn't take her rejection well and at one point almost found himself pulling down a picture of Ashley he had in his cabin similarly to what Shara did to the picture of her in Torro. The only thing that stopped him was that, in his mind, pulling picture would mean it was over between him and Ashley. As unpleasant as that experience had been for Shepard, it was that memory that was giving Shepard the insight he needed to make his deduction.

"That would also explain why you looked at Torro like you wanted to kill him. It wasn't because he killed your friend but because he broke your best friends heart. Ms. Jala'Cal, I can understand your wanting to get back at the guy who broke up with your friend but trying to get him arrested for a murder he didn't commit at the risk of letting Ms. Shara'Vael's real killer go free was an absolutely terrible thing to do. Jala'Cal vas Tonbay, you are under arrest for obstruction of justice."

Shepard then gestured for T'Parro to lead Jala outside while he started reading Jala's rights. The whole trip to the skycar, Shepard could see Jala's stunned expression as she processed how her lie had been caught. Eventually the guilt started to set in and she began to cry. It was hard for Shepard not feel sorry for Jala. Between finding her best friend murdered and being arrested, she was not having a great day. True she had herself to blame for getting arrested but it was still something she shouldn't have to go through after suffering a terrible loss. Once the trio arrived at the skycar, Shepard asked T'Parro to sit in the back and comfort Jala. Normally Shepard would jump to the aid of someone who was sad but in that instant he had to leave T'Parro to do that. He needed to get what happened with Jala and Torro out of his mind and focus on the bigger problem. Shara's killer was still out there and Garrus was going to be rejoining him at C-SEC HQ to hit the ground running on figuring out who it was.

* * *

Sitting in an office at the quartan embassy, Garrus was taping his fingers on the armrest of his chair while rubbing his forehead and taking some calming breaths. A datapad sat on a dessk in front of him. He pulled up his omni-tool to check the time. His meeting was supposed to have started already but he didn't mind. He enjoyed the chance to relax after the fireworks he had endured. In the last hour, he had managed to avoid a diplomatic incident…and possibly a divorce.

When he and Jorin arrived at the embassy with Torro, Garrus' wife, Ambassador Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, was there to greet them with a look that Garrus had seen whenever he made Tali mad in the past. Tali didn't say a word and instead gestured for the group to follow her to her office. It was after they entered the office and the door was closed that the fireworks went off. Garrus thought he had chewed Jorin out hard at the crime scene but Tali practically grounded him to pieces by calling him a "stupid, muscle-headed bosh'tet" and rhetorically asking what gave him the right to storm into the embassy and drag her aide out in handcuffs. Jorin stammered as he tried to defend himself but Tali wouldn't give him the chance to finish a sentence. When Tali was done yelling at Jorin, she turned to Garrus and told him about how she had been receiving a lot of pressure to take diplomatic action over the incident. Some of the staff were even wondering if she could be trusted to make an unbiased decision since she was married to a C-SEC officer. Garrus just kept quiet while Tali ranted as he thought of how he could resolve the situation in a way that would make all sides happy. Since Jorin was (somehow) a C-SEC officer, Garrus felt it was his responsibility to discipline him for his actions. However the quarian embassy did deserve a role in punishing Jorin since he falsely arrested a diplomat without going through proper diplomatic channels. Ultimately the question was should Jorin be punished according to C-SEC's procedures or the embassy's. He weighed the pros and cons of both options in his mind until he noticed Tali was done speaking and giving him an evil stare that was practically daring him to say something.

The situation was resolved when Torro surprised everyone by stating he didn't want charges pressed against Jorin. He acknowledged that he should want Jordin punished for everything he had been put through by the false arrest but none of that compared to the pain he was feeling since learning that the woman he loved had been murdered. As a result, the only thing Torro wanted was for C-SEC to find the killer and he knew they couldn't effectively do that if they were trying to resolve a diplomatic incident. Though it wasn't the outcome anyone expected (or in Tali's case, wanted), both parties agreed to honor Torro's request.

The remaining minutes of the past hour saw Jorin being sent back to C-SEC HQ relieved to have dodged a bullet. Though Garrus knew that he and everyone in C-SEC would be keeping a closer eye on him to make sure he didn't find himself in a similar situation again. At the same time, Torro left with Tali to address the rest of the embassy staff. The majority of staff would likely still want action taken against Jorin but Torro's appeal would significantly help calm everyone's anger. As for Garrus, he was waiting in Torro's office. Torro agreed before leaving with Tali that he would meet Garrus there to answer questions about Shara once he finished addressing the staff. In between forehead rubs and calming breaths, Garrus glanced at his datapad to review his notes for the upcoming meeting.

C-SEC had sent him everything they had on Shara. According to the files, both of her parents were deceased and she had no siblings. After the Reaper War was over, she had chosen not to live on Rannoch and found her way to the Citadel. She found employment with the Citadel Peacekeepers, the local biotaball team. Working her way up the ranks, she eventually became in charge of promoting support for the team. Garrus had a feeling that was a tough job since the Peacekeepers didn't have one of the best records in the league. Despite that, there were many die-hard fans who rooted for the team season after season. No doubt Shara played a small part in building up the fan base. Garrus had just wrapped up his reading when the door to the office opened and Torro entered.

"Sorry for taking so long Detective," he said as he took a seat opposite Garrus.

"No worries Mr. Torro'Zal," Garrus replied, "I take it that things have settled down out there?"

Torro let out an exhausted sigh, "as settled as can be. Some of the staff feel that by letting this incident slide it might make us look like we can be pushed around. After spending nearly three centuries being viewed as second-class citizens by the rest of the galaxy, that wouldn't help the work we've done to escape that since the Reaper War ended. However my appeal did help soften them a little bit. I told them that we needed to focus on the more important problem. One of our own has been brutally murdered and the killer is still out there. Reluctant though it may be, you now have the complete support of the quarian embassy."

"Thank you Mr. Torro'Zal and my partner and I will do everything we can to find Shara's killer."

"Please Detective, just call me Torro. It's funny, it used to be quarians couldn't take C-SEC's word seriously because of how we were viewed by the galaxy. However the ambassador does speak highly of you. As for your partner, even if he didn't already have such a legendary reputation, what I witnessed when we met tells me that he's more than up to the job. So, thank you."

Garrus smiled before turning his attention back to his datapad, "tell me Torro, how long were you and Shara together?"

"Just about a year. We met at her work."

"You met her at the Peacekeeper's stadium?"

"That's correct. Some of the embassy staff planned a group outing to one of their games. Shara had heard we were coming and thought it would be a good promotion if one of us threw out the first ball. Since I was the senior staff member, she asked if I would do it. After I did, she thanked me for volunteering, we got to talking and we hit it off. We had our first date later that week and before I knew it, we were boyfriend and girlfriend. That year we were together was the best time of my life. (sob) To be honest, a couple of weeks ago I was thinking of asking her to marry me."

As Torro told his story, Garrus saw the gradual change in Torro's expression from happy reminiscing to sadness. But there was something else about the sadness. Torro almost seemed to be feeling remorseful about something. From what Garrus and Shepard had learned in their investigation up to that point, Garrus already knew Shara and Torro's relationship had a falling out. Thanks to Shepard's deduction, he also knew Torro was the one who broke it off. However the way Torro was acting seemed to indicate that he was having some second thoughts about it. That would explain why he was taking Shara's death especially hard since her death meant he lost any chance of undoing his decision. Everything Garrus was seeing seemed to indicate that Torro really loved Shara. So why would he break up with her?

"But you broke up with her instead. What happened between then and now that lead to things falling apart between you two?"

Torro shrugged his shoulders, "it seems so stupid now. We both had packed schedules with our jobs but we always found time to have a date night every week. The last couple of weeks though we haven't had a date night because she kept cancelling. She said it was because she had to work late. The first couple of times she did that I was okay with it. But then it kept happening and I started to get suspicious."

"Why? Hasn't there been times in the past where she had to work late a lot?"

"Detective, the thing about Shara is that she was always good at getting her work done on time so that she never had to work late. During the entire time we were dating, these past couple of weeks were the first time she ever had to work late. I just couldn't understand what was going on at her job that she needed to put in so many extra hours."

Garrus started wondering the same thing. The Peacekeepers may not have been doing well but their fans were loyal to a fault and thus Shara shouldn't haven needed to work too hard to promote support for them. Suddenly a troubling thought entered Garrus' mind when he remembered something he saw on his datapad while he was waiting for Torro to arrive. It was in the file that contained Shara's financial information. He asked Torro to wait a second while he pulled up the file again. Looking at the entires that showed the deposits that Shara received from work, he noticed what was troubling him. The deposits didn't increase since Shara had started cancelling date nights to work late. By all accounts it looked like Shara was working the same amount of hours each week that she always had. Why then was she saying she had to cancel dates because she had to work late?

"I'm guessing you're realizing the same thing I did," Torro said causing Garrus to look up from his datapad, "she was never working late."

"Yeah," Garrus replied, "how did you find out though?"

"Yesterday she had to cancel date night again and I was getting restless from not having seen her at all for weeks. I thought I'd surprise her by bringing dinner to her office. When I got to her office, she wasn't there. I found one of her coworkers and said that Shara had told me that she was working late again that night but he said that she had already left for the day. He was also confused when I said she was working late "again" because, as far as he knew, she never stayed late."

"So after you found out she had been lying about where she was, what did you do next?"

"I left her office and went straight to her apartment. She wasn't home but she gave me the code to her door so I let myself in to wait for her. It was several hours later when she finally got home. After the initial shock she had upon seeing me, I confronted her with what I found out. Even with my proof, she insisted that she was cancelling our dates because of work. I asked her to tell me exactly what she was doing but she wouldn't tell me. I pressed and pressed but all she said was that she wanted to tell me but she couldn't. Well that was when I finally exploded. I told her that after all the time we spent together, she should have known that she could tell me anything. If she couldn't see that, then we didn't deserve to be together. I stormed out of her place and went home. (sob) Kee'lah, what have I done?"

"I'm sorry?"

"What if what she was working on was dangerous. That means she was just trying to protect me by keeping me in the dark. (sniffle) Then I go and throw her concern right back in her face and left her alone to be killed. Maybe she'd still be alive if I had just been more patient with her and stayed at her place a little longer. The woman I love is dead because of me!"

Up until that point in the interview, Torro had managed to keep himself composed. Now that the pain he felt over losing Shara was mixing with guilt he was feeling for his possible role in her death, he couldn't keep it together anymore. Garrus remained silent to let Torro grieve. What he was seeing was a scene that played out in front of him during all his previous interviews with the loved ones of murder victims. Though their were slight variations from person to person, they all went through the stages of grief. The stage Torro was at was the guilty stage. It was irrational thinking for sure but Torro couldn't help but feel that he was partially responsible for Shara being killed. It may have been irrational but Garrus could sympathize with how Torro was feeling. He went through the same exact stages when he lost his mercenary squad during his vigilante days on Omega.

Realizing he was about to flashback to an unpleasant time in his life, Garrus decided it was time to wrap up the interview. He felt he had learned all that he could from Torro anyway. When he finished gathering his things, he slowly put a comforting hand on Torro's shoulder. This caused to Torro to look up at him.

"Listen to me Torro," Garrus said, "you are not responsible for what happened to Shara. And despite what happened the last time you saw her, I have no doubt that she knew how much you loved her. I know it will be hard but I suggest you go home and get some rest. After everything that's happened I'm sure the ambassador would approve."

Torro nodded, "yes…yes I suppose I should. Thank you Detective and give my thanks to your partner. I wish you both luck in your investigation."

Garrus shook Torro's hand and started to walk out of the office, "don't worry Torro. We'll find out who did this and bring them to justice. I promise."

* * *

Back at C-SEC HQ, Shepard was putting the finishing touches on a project he had been working on while waiting for Garrus to return from the embassy. After leaving Jala with T'Parro to be processed for obstruction charges, he compiled all the presently known facts of the case and organized them onto a holographic board. One of the things Garrus showed him on his first day was how the other detectives used what he called "murder boards" to help keep their facts and evidence organized and on display for quick referral. Though he had never used a "murder board" himself, Shepard could see how it would be helpful for the case. He always viewed his deductive process as being similar to putting pieces of a puzzle together. By having the "pieces" visually displayed, it could potentially make it easier for him to see how they go together. Secretly Shepard wished he would be able to solve this puzzle without having to gather all the pieces but he knew that the more he had, the better chance he and Garrus would have with getting a conviction after the killer had been identified.

Shepard barely finished working on the board when he heard Garrus approach him, "very impressive Shepard. It's hard to believe this is the first murder board you've put together."

"Thanks Gar…," Shepard started to say as he turned around but stopped when he noticed the exhausted expression on Garrus' face, "uh…forgive me Garrus but you look terrible."

Garrus sighed, "I know. All I can say is I'm glad to be out of the embassy. We managed to dodge a bullet with Kadarus' screwup but it's probably going to be awhile before I get back on Tali's good side."

"Sorry partner. What's the deal with Kadarus anyway? The way you and T'Parro acted, this clearly wasn't the first time that he's screwed up. Sounds like he should have been kick off the force a long time ago."

"You're right. Unfortunately he happens to be the executor's son-in-law. We're just lucky that Torro convinced the quarians not to press charges. The executor wouldn't have hesitated bailing his daughter's husband out of trouble even if it meant breaking the trust C-SEC has been working to earn with the quarians. While Bailey can't have Kadarus fired, he's at least able to keep him from becoming a homicide detective."

"Yeah I noticed he seems determined to become your partner in particular. What's up with that?"

"The best way for me to explain it is that he is my personal Conrad Verner."

The name Garrus mentioned was one that Shepard knew well, but not in an entirely good way. Conred Verner was a human Shepard met on the Citadel back when the Reapers first came to his attention. It quickly became apparent that Conrad was a fan of Shepard. The first time Shepard talked with him, Conrad asked for an autograph. When they met again after Shepard became a Spectre, Conrad asked to take a picture of him. They seemed like harmless requests so Shepard obliged both times. The third time they met was when Shepard realized how unhealthy Conrad obsession with him was. Conrad wanted Shepard to recommend him for Spectre status. Knowing that Conrad's lack of training and experience made him unqualified to be a Spectre, Shepard declined. Despite Conrad insisting that he would be a great Spectre and that he wanted to be out there with Shepard fighting the good fight, Shepard was able to change his mind by pointing out that he played an important role in keeping humanity strong on the home-front.

Whatever good Shepard's advice to Conrad did was undone when Shepard was killed in a surprise attack. Feeling that someone had to fill the void left by Shepard's absence, Conrad left his home and made it his mission to help people like Shepard did. A mission he still pursued even after Shepard had been brought back to life. Unfortunately his naive and gullible nature kept getting him into trouble. Shepard was there to witness two such instances and was able to help him out both times.

In the end, Conrad did finally earn some respect from Shepard when he not only provided some scientific help constructing the Crucible, the weapon used to defeat the Reapers for good, but he dove to take a bullet meant for Shepard. Fortunately Jenna, another acquaintance of Shepard's, was able to remotely sabotage the assailant's gun so Conrad didn't actually have to take the bullet. Even so, the gesture was more than enough to show Shepard he had underestimated Conrad's bravery. The last Shepard heard, Conrad and Jenna were still volunteering to help people in need and recently got married. Thus bringing a happy end to a frustrating but interesting side story in Shepard's fight against the Reapers.

Now it sounded like Garrus was having a similar problem with Jorin. In Shepard's view, the only thing that was making Jorin more troublesome than Conrad was the fact that unlike Conrad, Jorin had an authoritative position that made his mistakes have more far reaching repercussions. If he were to somehow become a homicide detective, Shepard had a feeling a lot of killers would escape justice. The thought of that sent a shiver up Shepard's spine.

"You know," Garrus continued, "after my last partnership didn't work out, I was hearing rumors that the executor was pressuring Bailey to finally give Kadarus a chance and partner him with me since I had already gone through every other available homicide detective on the force."

"I guess it's all the more reason for us to be thankful that he decided to promote me instead," Shepard said with a smile.

"Indeed but enough about Kadarus. I can only talk about him for so long without getting a headache. I see you've added the information I gathered at the embassy to the board. Tell me Detective Shepard, what do the facts tell us so far."

Shepard turned to face the board as he spoke, "we know that Shara started regularly cancelling date nights with Torro a few weeks ago. She claimed it was because she had to work late but her finances don't show any increases in her paychecks to reflect that she had been working extra hours. When confronted by Torro about it, she could only say that she wants to tell him the truth but for some reason she couldn't. Sometime after Torro left, Shara ended up dead. I don't know what it was that happened a few weeks ago that prompted the sudden secrecy in Shara's behavior but I've got a feeling that it has something to do with why she was murdered."

"I agree and that's why it's crucial we figure out what happened ourselves. Normally the way to find an explanation for a sudden change in a victim's behavior is to talk to the people who knew them the best."

"Unfortunately I think that's going to be tough," Shepard sighed, "Torro has told us everything that he knows and Jala's been in a less than talkative mood ever since we arrested her for obstruction. Not that we would be able to use anything she says anyway since all she's told us so far are lies. So if we can't get help from her fiancé or her best friend, who do we talk to next."

"The people who would be able to notice a change in her behavior because they see her everyday: her coworkers."


	5. Chapter 5

The Citadome, home of the Citadel Peacekeepers. That was what the sign said above the entry gate that Garrus' skycar approached. In the passenger seat, Shepard was having a hard time resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He felt like someone took the lazy route when coming up with the name for the stadium. Then again, it was at least comforting that the the building wasn't named after a business that sponsored the team like some of the other athletic stadiums Shepard had heard of. Name aside, there was nothing else funny about the stadium. Quite the contrary. like the Citadel itself, the building was a sight to behold. Having only seen the stadium on his TV at home whenever he watched the games, Shepard couldn't believe how much bigger it was in person. Even though they had a bit of a drive to reach the stadium, Shepard had to lean forward in his seat in order to see the entire thing from bottom to top.

"Can I help you gentleman?"

The new voice took Shepard's focus off the stadium. He turned to face the driver's side and saw that a guard had emerged from the nearby booth and approached their car. The tone in his voice revealed that he was confused by Shepard and Garrus' arrival. That wasn't surprising though since there wasn't a game scheduled that day and the only people the guard would expect to come through the gate on an off day were Peacekeeper personnel. The guard relaxed a little bit when Garrus held up his badge. Once Garrus explained who he and Shepard were and why they wanted to be let inside, the guard signaled for the gate to be opened and told Garrus to head for the main entrance.

One thing Shepard noted as he and Garrus continued their approach was how empty the parking lot was. Watching the games on his TV, the parking lot was always packed to the brim with skycars. Seeing it in person on an off day, it felt like a deserted ghost town. If it wasn't for a few cars parked in the rows closest to the stadium, Shepard would have felt like he and Garrus were the only people there. Following the guard's instructions, Garrus pulled into a parking spot close to the main entrance. As he and Shepard got out of the car, they saw a krogan inside the building approaching the main door. The two had no doubt the guard at the booth had called ahead to have someone come unlock the door for them. By the time they reached the door, it was unlocked and they were greeted inside by an asari. While the asari greeted Shepard and Garrus with a friendly smile, the krogan they saw unlock the door stared intensely at them. Shepard thought he even heard the krogan subtly growl at them.

"Welcome to the Citadome gentlemen," the asari said, "my name is Vala Isali. I'm the Citadel Peacekeeper's legal advocate. This is Kormer Maul, chief of security."

Shepard and Garrus shared confused looks with each other. They expected to be greeted by a regular security guard and a receptionist who would direct them where they needed to go. Instead they were greeted by the head security guard and a lawyer. This was weird for them because all Garrus had told the guard at the gate was that they came to the Citadome to make some inquires about Shara. Though he was vague on what the inquires were about, Garrus hadn't said anything that should have made the guard call in the big guns.

Recovering quickly from their confusion, Shepard and Garrus each shook Vala's hand. When they attempted to shake Maul's hand however, they instead received another subtle growl from him. This sent a small nervous chill up their spines. Though they both knew that not all krogan were dangerous, especially since one of their best friends was a krogan, they also knew it was dangerous to provoke one. Between Maul's size and the fact he had been giving them dirty looks and growls since they met, Shepard and Garrus felt they were only one misstep away from setting him off.

"Nice to meet you both," Garrus said quickly hoping small talk would defuse Maul's temper, "I'm Detective Vakarian and this is my partner Detective Shepard. We're here to ask some questions about…."

"We know why you're here," Maul growled, "my man at the gate told us. What we want to know is why C-SEC wants to ask questions about one of our people."

"Because Chief," Shepard said coming to Garrus' aid, "Ms. Shara'Vael was found murdered in her apartment this morning."

"Oh my," Vala said while covering her mouth in shock.

Maul on the other hand didn't show any reaction other continuing to angrily stare at Shepard and Garrus. It was like Shepard's answer wasn't enough to satisfy him and he was waiting for them to give more information before he decided to throw them out. Shepard obliged this by expanding on his answer.

"We know that she worked in promotions for the Peacekeepers," he said, "we were hoping to talk to her coworkers to see if they can give us some insights into her life and possibly who might have wanted her dead."

"You mean you think that someone in this organization killed her!" Maul shouted. "do you have a warrant?"

"Maul!" Vala scolded, "let me handle this!"

"If they don't have a warrant, then there's nothing for you to handle which means I can throw them out!"

Up until that point, both Shepard and Garrus had been trying to keep things calm so as not to provoke Maul. Now that he was threatening to throw them out, all bets were off. For anyone else, an angry krogan was a cue to run for the hills. But Shepard and Garrus were not like everyone else. They had both fought krogan, as a team and on their own, and won. So instead of running, Shepard and Garrus put their hands by their sidearms, held up one hand each and stood their ground.

"Don't even think about it," Garrus said sternly, "now listen Chief, you are making this more difficult than it needs to be. My partner and I are not here on a witch hunt. We are here to ask questions, that is it. Now stand down, let us do our job and then we'll leave."

Maul didn't really appear keen on obeying Garrus' order. Instead the order seemed to make him want to forget about simply throwing the two detectives out and just tear them to shreds. What Maul didn't know was that Garrus was not expecting him to follow the order. If there was anyone who could get Maul to stand down, Garrus thought, it was Vala. Thus, while the order was directed at the chief, Garrus issued it for Vala to see. Sure enough, Garrus noticed that Vala realized how serious he was and threw Maul a disapproving look.

"Maul!" She shouted. "Do what Detective Vakarian says! Don't make me call Lyle about this!"

Vala was referring to Lyle Wilkinson, the owner of the Citadel Peacekeepers. As the owner, Wilkinson was the one who signed Maul's paychecks and could fire him if he wanted. This made him one of the few people that Maul would be afraid of since one thing that scared krogan was not getting a payday. Faced with the new threat of having to get an earful from his boss, Maul let out one final growl and walked away.

"Fine," he mumbled as he left, "I need to get back to work anyway."

With the situation back to a relaxing level, Shepard and Garrus each breathed a sigh of relief as they moved their hands away from their weapons. Shepard was starting to wonder if all homicide cases were filled with as many tense situations as he and Garrus had experienced in the few hours they'd been on the case. He put the thought out of his mind when he noticed Vala rubbing her forehead as if she were tending a headache.

"I'm terribly sorry about that detectives," she said, "I know the chief's behavior was out of line but you must understand this is a potentially serious situation for the organization."

Shepard raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I don't understand Ms. Isali. We've repeatedly said we are just here to ask questions about Shara. How is that a serious situation for the Peacekeepers?"

Vala looked at Shepard like he had asked a stupid question, "you obviously don't know a lot about the world of professional sports Detective Shepard. You may think that all the action happens on the field but that is far from true. Between the fans, the press and even C-SEC, there are a lot of eyes watching what happens off the field. Sadly they tend to focus on finding the scandalous and controversial stuff. They want to see athletes doing drugs, having affairs, abusing their loved ones, etc. The Peacekeepers take pride in being a family-friendly organization and yet there have been several attempts from the groups I've mentioned to uncover something that would tarnish that. So when we hear two C-SEC detectives are coming to ask questions about one of their people, we instantly assume the worst."

"So that's why a lawyer and the chief of security came to meet us down here," Garrus said.

"Correct," Vala replied, "I was sent down here in case any legal protection was needed. Now that I know the reason you are here though, I can see that it won't be necessary. Rest assured that from here on out you will have the complete support of the Peacekeepers organization."

"Thank you Ms. Isali," replied Shepard, "we really do appreciate that. Believe us when we say we're not here to cause scandal or controversy for the Peacekeepers. We just want to find Shara's killer."

"Of course. Now I imagine you two would like to see Shara's office. If you'll follow me, I'll take you there."

Shepard and Garrus thanked Vala again and proceeded to follow her. Along the way, they passed several giant pictures of past Peacekeeper players on the walls. Many of which had symbols in the corner to indicate they were in the biotaball hall of fame. They were the stars of the Peacekeeper's golden years. There were also some pictures of entire teams from the years the Peacekeepers won championships. Upon first glance at the number of championships, a person would think the Peacekeepers were a successful team. It was only upon looking at the years the championships were won that the truth was revealed. The golden years of the Peacekeepers had not been recaptured for quite some time.

Having lived on the Citadel longer than Shepard, Garrus acted like a tour guide as he told Shepard the story of the rise and fall of the Peacekeepers. For centuries, the Peacekeepers could do no wrong. They attracted the best players in Citadel space and didn't have a decade go by where they didn't win at least one championship. That all changed seventy-five years ago when the Peacekeepers made the controversial decision to trade their best player for three up and coming stars from a rival team. The rumors were that they thought the player they traded was getting too old and they wanted to get some young blood on the team. This did not sit well with the player. She was later quoted in the press saying that the Peacekeepers had made a big mistake and that she wouldn't be surprised if they didn't win a championship ever again. Unknown to everyone at the time, that was the beginning of what became known as the Peacekeeper Curse. The next year, the Peacekeepers failed to even make the playoffs. The three up and coming stars they acquired in the trade had the worst seasons of their careers. No one could remember the last time the Peacekeepers had a season as bad as that year. Alas bad seasons quickly became the norm the following years. Making things worse, the asari matriarch who had been the owner of the team during the golden years had passed away. The organization would then go through several new owners with each one hoping they could rebuild the team back to its championship glory days only to be met with failure each time.

It was at that point of Garrus' story that he and Shepard passed a picture of human male who didn't look like a player. This was due to the fact he was wearing a nice suit instead of a team uniform. Garrus identified the man as Lyle Wilkinson, the team's current owner. According to Garrus, Wilkinson became the first human to own the Peacekeepers when he bought the team ten years ago. The first thing he did upon taking over was retire the number of the player whose trade caused the curse and posthumously awarded her a spot in the Peacekeeper's hall of fame. By formally acknowledging that the trade was a mistake, Wilkinson's hope was that it would lift the curse. Sure enough, under his leadership, the team finally started to see its luck turn around. Their regular season records were consistently among, if not the best in the league and they were making frequent playoff appearances again. Yet despite lifting the curse and all the progress Wilkinson had made in improving the team, a championship season was always just out of reach.

"Needles to say," Garrus said as he wrapped up his story, "some of the fans have begun to lose hope. Every year since Wilkinson took over, they've been excitedly watching him get the team ready to win it all only for them to choke just short of the finish line."

"Which is why this organization has relied on Ms. Shara'Vael and the rest of our promotions team to keep interest and support in the Peacekeepers alive," said Vala, "from what I've heard, some of the best ideas came from her. She will be greatly missed by this organization."

When Vala had finished speaking, the trio had reached Shara's office. Shepard and Garrus thanked Vala for guiding them and asked her to send the rest of the promotions team to the office so they could interview them. Vala nodded and left them alone to begin their search. The office was about as big as most of the offices Shepard and Garrus had seen before. It featured a desk, a chair, three chairs on the opposite side of the desk for visitors, some bookshelves and assorted decorations on the walls. Between the two detectives, it wasn't going to take long to search the whole room.

While Garrus examined the decorations on the walls, Shepard went through the contents on and inside Shara's desk. At first glance it didn't seem too different from the setup of the desk in her apartment. One notable difference though was that there was an upright picture of Shara with Torro. Not that Shepard was surprised. The blowup between them happened at her apartment and she was murdered shortly afterwards so there was no way she could have come to her office to pulldown the picture in her office. Besides the picture, the only other thing of interest on Shara's desk was the terminal. It was password protected but Shepard knew that the tech's would be able to crack it once he and Garrus delivered it to them. More so they needed to be able to crack it. If Torro's hunch was right about something at Shara's work getting her killed, there could be a clue on the terminal that would explain what it was.

"You find anything?" Shepard asked when he was done examining the desk.

"Nothing that's related to our case but still some interesting stuff," Garrus replied, "take a look at some of these pictures."

Shepard joined Garrus at one of the walls that ran from the desk to the door. Scattered across it were pictures of Shara posing with various people Shepard recognized. It was practically a wall of fame featuring Shara with the who's who of the Citadel. Celebrities, politicians, and CEO's of major companies, Shara had been with them all. In each picture, the person posing with Shara was wearing Peacekeeper apparel. Shepard couldn't help but be impressed. Despite the team's terrible record, Shara had been able to help them earn several high-profile fans.

A quick observation Shepard made gave him further insight into Shara's character. The pictures weren't placed on the wall behind Shara's desk. Usually people who had frequent encounters with celebrities would place their pictures of them in that spot. The logic being that when a visitor came, they would sit opposite the person and see the pictures behind them. That would make the visitor realize they were meeting with someone who hung out with the elite. Shepard always felt it was an unnecessary move to make the person appear to be elite themselves. Shara on the other hand placed her pictures on a side wall where a visitor would see them in passing but lose sight of them once they sat opposite Shara's desk. When a visitor sat with her, they wouldn't be intimidated by her collection of pictures and just focus on business. In short, Shara was someone who didn't mind showing people the perks of her job but she didn't want to shove them in people's faces. An admirable trait and Shepard was starting to wish he could have met Shara when she was still alive.

(KNOCK KNOCK)

Shepard and Garrus turned towards the door to the office and saw that a three people had gathered outside. The group consisted of a male turian, a female drell and a quarian male.

The drell spoke first, "we're from the promotions team. Vala said that you two wanted to see us."

The first thing Shepard noticed was that each one of the people standing in the door seemed confused by his and Garrus' presence. Not so much because they were in Shara's office but because the trio didn't know why they were in it. Combined with the fact no one looked as though they had been crying recently, Shepard figured that Vala didn't tell the trio about Shara's death. He looked toward Garrus who nodded to indicate he had come to the same realization. Garrus then held out his arm to gesture for Shepard to take the lead on the interview.

"Yes we did," Shepard said, "I'm Detective Shepard and this is my partner Detective Vakarian. Please, come in."

Shara's coworkers proceeded to enter the office and each took a seat in the office's chairs. Shepard sat in the chair behind the desk while Garrus leaned against the wall behind him. While everyone was taking their seats, Shara's coworkers introduced themselves. The turian's name was Koran Teronis, the quarian's name was Peda'Tok vas Qwib Qwib and the drell's name was Tamala. Before Shepard could give the customary "nice to meet you" response, Koran spoke.

"Forgive me for being blunt Detectives," he said, "but why are we meeting in Shara's office and why were you searching it when we came in."

"Well," Shepard said as he prepared himself to deliver the bad news, "because Ms. Shara'Vael is the reason we're here. I'm sorry to have to tell you all this but she was found murdered in her apartment this morning."

The trio reacted about how Shepard expected. Tamala initially gasped in shock and then started crying. Peda tried to comfort her but his face showed that he was struggling to process what he heard. Koran's initial expression of surprise slowly turned to anger as the news sunk in.

"What happened?!" he said with an almost inaudible growl, "who killed her?!"

Shepard held his hand up in an attempt to calm Koran down, "that's what we're trying to find out Mr. Teronis and we're here hoping the three of you might be able to help. Have the three of you worked with Shara long?"

"Y…yes" Peda replied while steadily regaining his composure, "we've been on the promotions team together for several years now. Everyday we'd work together coming up with new ways to promote support for the Peacekeepers."

Tamala sniffled, "Shara was the best of us though. A lot of our best ideas came from her. That's why she was picked to be our boss. She was passionate about the team and she made it her mission to keep people supporting the team regardless of the struggles they've been having."

"Did that mission have her working long hours?" Shepard asked.

"Oh no," replied Tamala, "Shara was an efficient person. She made sure we got our work done so that we could leave on time every day."

Peda was starting to relax by that point and chuckled, "she said as much as she enjoyed working with us, she wanted to us to be able to go home and have enough time to spend with our families every night, We were lucky to have her as a boss because she always looked out for us."

Shepard and Garrus looked at each other. What Shara's coworker's were saying confirmed what Torro had told Garrus back at the embassy about her efficient nature. However they still needed a reason for why Shara had been cancelling date nights recently. It sounded like it would be tough though if her coworker's were still getting out of work on time everyday.

"Are you sure she hadn't been working late some nights?" Shepard asked. "Maybe she stayed here after you three had left for the day."

All three coworkers looked confused by Shepard's question before Tamala answered, "yes, we're sure. At the end of the day we would walk out to our skycar's together."

"Why are you asking if she'd been working late?" Koran asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"My partner spoke with Shara's boyfriend before coming here," answered Shepard, "he said that for the last couple of weeks, she had been cancelling their date nights and said it was because she had to work late. If she wasn't here, then we have a lot of times where here movements are unaccounted for."

The three coworkers shared a puzzled look with each other before Peda said, "Detective Shepard, we don't know why Shara had been canceling her dates but we can assure you it wasn't because she needed to work late."

"Okay," Shepard replied, "Shara's secrecy behind her cancelled date nights aside, was there anything else out of the ordinary going on with her these past few weeks?"

Tamala eyes widened when a thought came to her, "now that you mention it, something had been off with her lately. I said she was the best of us at coming up with promotion ideas but the last few weeks it's been a struggle just to get one idea out of her."

"Yeah," said Peda, "it was like she was in her own world while the rest of us were brainstorming. We asked if something was wrong but she always said she was fine."

"Wait a minute!" Koran exclaimed. "I just thought of something. Shara started acting weird around the time we were negotiating a deal with Starfire. It's a new restaurant that opened on the station recently. They were going to sponsor a new promotion we're working on. The deal was going to lead to a lot of money and publicity for both the restaurant and the Peacekeepers."

Garrus stepped away from the wall he was leaning against, "what happened?"

"The day we were supposed to close the deal, Shara was a no show," said Peda, "Come to think of it, that was out of the ordinary for Shara as well. She never missed important meetings like that. By not showing up, we weren't able to close the deal and the promotion was abandoned."

"Did Shara ever say why she missed the meeting?" Shepard asked.

Tamala sighed, "all she said was that something had come up that she couldn't get out of. She kept apologizing to the owner of Starfire for missing the meeting but he just threw it back at her. He said it was her fault that his business was struggling and that one day he was going to make her pay for it."

Shepard and Garrus looked at each other. Though it didn't sound like an explicit threat, the owner's statement did provide them with a motive. With a new lead to follow, they thanked Shara's coworkers for their time and said they would be in touch if they had any more questions. The trio wished them luck with their investigation and left the office. The two detective's were about to leave as well but Shepard suddenly stopped in his tracks. Something about their current theory bothered him.

"Why would Shara have let the owner into her apartment?" He asked. "we said that Shara would only have let her killer inside because she didn't see him as a threat. This guy blamed her for his business failing. Not exactly someone you'd welcome into your home."

Garrus shrugged, "maybe he told her that he was willing to talk things out. Shara thinks she may finally have a chance at forgiveness and lets him in. The conversation however takes a bad turn and he kills her."

"Maybe, but still…(sigh) I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to him. We might still learn something."

"There you go Detective Shepard," Garrus said while patting Shepard on the back and walking out of the office, "another key rule about being a true detective is 'leave no stone unturned.'"


	6. Chapter 6

On the outside, there didn't seem to be anything that made Starfire stand out from other restaurants on the Citadel. Shepard had a feeling that might be one of the reasons why the business was struggling. Then again, that was a problem most Citadel restaurants struggled with. It seemed to Shepard that a new restaurant opened on the station everyday. With so many options for patrons to choose from, each business had to work hard to find a way to make themselves the one that was picked. The best two ways to do it were by coming up with a unique trait that made them stand out from the competition or persistent word of mouth. Now that Shepard was seeing for himself that Starfire didn't go for the unique trait approach, he figured that they were relying on word of mouth. That explained why closing a publicity deal with the Peacekeepers was so important to the owner. The question now was did the deal falling through make the owner angry enough to kill the person he blamed for ruining it.

(BEEP)

Shepard and Garrus were about to step out of their skycar when Shepard's omni-tool chimed to indicate he had received a new message. He didn't intend to read it but seeing that the sender of the message was Ashley made him change his mind. With Garrus watching with concern, Shepard read the message and his facial expressions constantly changed to show different emotions. When he was finished reading, Shepard closed the message, cursed to himself and then turned to face Garrus with an angry look. The intense stare from Shepard caused Garrus to nervously lean away from him.

"What?!" Garrus asked anxiously to find out what he had apparently done.

"You weren't kidding about your wife being a blabbermouth." Shepard softy growled.

That was all the information Garrus needed to realize what had happened, "I'm guessing Tali told Ashley that we caught a case."

"She certainly did. Now my wife is wondering why she had to hear I caught my first homicide case from someone other than me."

"Look Shepard, I'm sorry. You're right that it should have been you who told Ashley. But, at the risk of sounding like I'm taking my wife's side, it seems like Ashley's making too big a deal about this. This isn't related to the hormones human females go through during pregnancy is it?"

Shepard seemed ready to snap at Garrus but caught himself and took a breath to calm himself, "ordinarily, that would be a valid point Garrus. The truth is, hormones or not, Ashley knows these cases require us to hit the ground running and that it could take awhile before I got a chance to give her the news. So that's not the reason I'm mad at Tali."

"So why are you mad at her?" Garrus asked.

"Because Tali didn't just tell Ashley about us catching the case. She also told her about how our case nearly caused a diplomatic incident with the quarians."

Garrus eyes widened, "oh no."

"Oh yes. She tried to put on a brave face by wishing us luck on the case but I can read between the lines. Tali's story has made her more worried for me than she already is."

"What do you mean?"

Shepard shook his head, "Not now, Garrus. We have work to do. I promise we'll continue this discussion later."

Any other person would have pushed Shepard to keep talking but not Garrus. The reason for that was because he knew that Shepard was a man of his word. Whenever Shepard promised something, he always followed through on it. Even when negotiating with criminals during his military years, Shepard would always hold up his end of the bargain (provided the criminals held up their end first). With that in mind, Garrus simply nodded and exited the skycar with Shepard.

As the two detectives approached Starfire's doors, they saw something through the windows that made them stop and share a confused look with each other. The restaurant was packed with customers. There was even a decent sized crowd of people waiting to be seated just inside the door. The noise that greeted Shepard and Garrus when they entered the building was the sound of customers enjoying their food and having a great time. Not only was the restaurant filled to capacity but the place with praise. In spite of the Peacekeeper deal falling through and the average looking appearance of the place, Starfire appeared to be the hot spot for its section of the Citadel.

From everything Shepard was seeing and hearing, the doubt he was having about Starfire's owner being responsible for Shara's murder continued to grow. He wanted to tell Garrus but stopped himself. What Garrus had said about leaving no stone unturned kept running through his head. So he kept his mouth shut and followed Garrus to the hostess station.

"Hello gentleman," the human hostess said when Shepard and Garrus approached, "welcome to Starfire. Just to give you a heads up, it's about a thirty minute wait for a table."

"We're not here to eat," Garrus said as he held up his badge, "C-SEC detectives. We'd like to speak to the owner. Is he around?"

"Y…yes," the hostess stuttered, "he's in the kitchen but it might be difficult getting him to come out to talk. He's the head chef here too and, as you can see, we're pretty swamped."

"You certainly are," said Shepard, "are you guys usually this busy?"

"Actually we were struggling to bring people in for awhile. But then we had a surprise visit from a food critic. He loved Chef's food so much that he gave the restaurant an amazing review. Word began to spread and now you need to make a reservation if you want to guarantee yourself a table.

"Interesting," Garrus replied.

Shepard and Garrus both came to the same conclusion. The Starfire may not have been a success when the Peacekeeper deal fell through but it became one long before Shara was murdered. With that being the case, they no longer had a motive for why the owner would want to kill Shara. Though it was looking more and more like talking to the owner would be a waste of time, Shepard and Garrus decided to follow through with it. There was still a chance he might know something that could help their investigation.

Following the hostess' lead, Shepard and Garrus were led to towards the kitchen. The closer they got, the stronger the smell of the food that was cooking in there became. Shepard couldn't help but smile because of how amazing the smell was. If the food tasted as good as as it smelled, he could understand why the critic gave the restaurant a great review.

(BANG!)

The enjoyment of the smell was interrupted by a loud noise coming from he kitchen. It sounded to Shepard like someone had slammed their hand on a hard surface. The look on Garrus' face told Shepard that he had heard it too. He then glanced behind him to see if any of the patrons heard the noise as well. Not one set of eyes were looking towards the kitchen entrance. The customers were enjoying their meals like nothing happened. Shepard figured the noise was only loud to him and Garrus because they were standing right outside the kitchen door. The fact the door was closed would have also dampened the noise a bit. He was prepared to forget about the noise when he noticed the hostess looking nervous.

"I think you might want to wait out here Detectives," she said.

"Something wrong?" Garrus asked. "What was that noise?"

"It sounds like one of the cooks made a mistake and now Chef is angry."

"You can tell all that from that noise?" Shepard asked.

"This isn't the first time it's happened. Don't get me wrong, Chef is a great boss and he's a master in the kitchen. Unfortunately he also has really high standards and a short temper. Those two things don't really go together well. I'm worried that if I bring you two into the kitchen he'll start yelling at me."

"Okay Miss," Garrus replied, "we don't want to get you into any trouble. Just tell your boss that we have some questions we'd like to ask him."

The hostess thanked Shepard and Garrus and entered the kitchen. While they waited, the stood closer to the door as they tried to hear what was going on inside. It was muffled but they could hear what they assumed was the owner's voice shouting at one of his staff. They couldn't help but wonder what the poor staff member did to set off the owner. Before they could wonder on the matter further, things suddenly got quiet. They figured it was because the hostess was now telling the owner that they were outside. The sound of footsteps approaching the door told Shepard and Garrus someone was coming and they quickly stepped away from the door.

The door opened and a batarian in a chefs outfit came out of the kitchen. He was wiping his hands on his jacket to remove any food residue that might have been on them. When he was done, he held out one of them so that he could shake hands with Shepard and Garrus. While the hand shakes were being exchanged, Shepard and Garrus were amazed by how composed the owner was considering he had just been yelling a few moments ago.

"Detectives," said the owner, "I'm Bordan Danzic, chef-owner of this fine establishment. My hostess said you had some questions to ask me."

"We do Mr. Danzic" Shepard answered, "is there a place we can talk in private?"

The question seemed to worry Danzic as he looked at his omni-tool for the time, "forgive me Detectives but is this going to take awhile? We're in the middle of a rush and I can't be gone from the kitchen too long."

"We'll try not to take up too much of your time Mr. Danzic" replied Garrus, "but given that we're conducting a murder investigation, we need to be absolutely thorough."

"Murd…?!" Danzic started to say before Shepard shushed him.

"Please Mr. Danzic, we're trying to help you by not making a scene in front of your customers. Is there a place we can talk in private or not?"

After regaining his composure, Danzic nodded and gestured for Shepard and Garrus to follow him into the kitchen. Their destination was the chef's office in the back. On the way, Danzic stopped a cook who Shepard assumed was the sous chef. Danzic explained that he was going to be in his office talking to the detectives and that he was leaving the sous chef in charge until he got back. With the transfer of command complete, Danzic led Shepard and Garrus into his office and locked the door behind him.

Similar to Shara's office, the walls of Danzic's office told a story. With framed news articles and pictures, Shepard could piece together how Danzic founded the restaurant and how it became a success. The one item on the wall that made Shepard stop to take a closer look was a picture that had both the Peacekeeper logo and what he assumed was the Starfire's logo. Shepard figured it was a flyer made as part of a proposal for the publicity deal. Seeing that Danzic would display what many would consider a failure on his wall made Shepard respect the man a little bit. Danzic didn't see the Peacekeeper deal falling through as a failure but as an obstacle he had to overcome to accomplish his dream. That was a logic Shepard tried to apply with his "failures" during his military career. The only difference being that instead of accomplishing a dream, he accomplished missions.

"No one will disturb us in here," Danzic said as he sat behind his desk, "now what is this about a murder?"

"Mr. Danzic," Garrus said while he and Shepard sat down in the chairs on the opposite side of the desk, "do you know a quarian named Shara'Vael vas Moreh?"

A look of recognition appeared on Danzic's face upon hearing the name, "y….yes. I met her when I was trying to become a sponsor for the Peacekeepers. She was the head of their promotions department. Is she okay?"

"I'm afraid not. Her body was found in her apartment this morning. She had been stabbed to death."

"That's….that's horrible. I….I'm truly shocked to hear this detectives. But I have to admit, I'm also a bit unsure about why you wanted to talk to me about this."

"We know that the sponsorship deal you talked about fell through. We also know that you blamed Shara for that because she didn't show up for the final meeting that would have closed the deal. She tried to apologize for it but you wouldn't listen to her. Instead you threatened that one day you would make her pay."

As Garrus listed the things he and Shepard had learned during their investigation, Danzic's expression changed from confusion to horror and finally to the brink of anger. He didn't need to be a detective to realize what the evidence indicated. This didn't go unnoticed by Shepard and he knew Danzic's temper wouldn't allow him to contain his anger for much longer. He quickly spoke up to tell Danzic what and he and Garrus had concluded since arriving at the restaurant.

"I know what you're thinking Mr. Danzic," he said, "and the truth is we did consider you a suspect when we learned about that stuff. However, after seeing how your restaurant is doing now, it's obvious you don't have a motive for wanting Shara dead anymore."

"You're damn right I don't!" Danzic shouted as he banged his hand on his desk, "why would I want to hurt the woman who helped my business take off?"

Danzic's response shocked Shepard and Garrus into silence. Their visit to Starfire had been full of surprises since they walked through the door but what they just heard was probably the biggest. With how things fell through during the Peacekeeper deal as a result of Shara missing the meeting, how could Danzic say she helped his business take off. If anything, she should have nearly brought it to ruin.

"I'm afraid my partner and I are a bit confused Mr. Danzic," said Garrus, "how did Ms. Shara'Vael help your restaurant?"

Danzic turned around to pull down one of the news articles hanging on the wall behind him and put it on the desk for the detectives to see. Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was a review of Starfire. They realized it was THE review. All throughout the article, the critic was praising the restaurant. From the food to the staff to the atmosphere, the critic could not find one fault with any of them. It closed with the critic commenting that everyone should check out Starfire and that once they did, they would want to come back for more. With so many restaurants on the Citadel, its citizens relied on the opinions of food critics to determine which ones were worth trying. With the kind of review Starfire got, it was no wonder they were packed.

"That review saved my business," Danzic continued, "and it never would have happened if Shara hadn't reached out to that critic and asked them to give Starfire a try."

"She arranged for the critic to review your restaurant?" Garrus asked.

"Yes, apparently the critic was an old friend of hers and she asked them to come out here as a personal favor to her. I have to say, Shara went out of her way to help my business, even after the way I've treated her. It's true that I threatened to get payback for her missing that meeting but the way things turned out, it's I who should be paying her back. But…now that she's dead….I guess it's too late for that."

The combination of sadness and guilt Danzic was feeling in that moment caused him to tear up. Seeing a batarian cry was a sight that Shepard didn't recall witnessing before. It was further proof that batarains and humans weren't that different. They felt the same emotions and reacted to them in similar ways. Shepard had no doubt Danzic would have been a complete wreck if Shara had been a close friend of his. Since she was not however, only a single tear built up in his eye but not enough to fall down his face.

As sorry as he was that he had to break the news of Shara's death to so many people in the last few hours, Shepard was also becoming slightly frustrated. He and Garrus had been already exhausted all the people who would know Shara best trying get an explanation for her strange behavior in the days prior to her death. The lead that brought them to the Starfire was the only thing that came out of them but it was proving to be a dead end. If the people Shara knew best couldn't give an answer for her behavior, who could? Whether it was because he was trying to be thorough or because he was desperate to salvage something from their current interview, Shepard asked Danzic one more question.

"Mr. Danzic, did Ms. Shara'Vael ever give you a reason for why she missed that meeting?"

The tear in Danzic's eye vanished as he pondered on Shepard's question, "well, at first I wouldn't give her the chance to explain because I was too angry with her to listen. After I found out that she was the one who arranged for the critic to come, I was so happy that I told her all was forgiven and that she didn't owe me any explanation. But then she said something strange."

"What?" Garrus asked, his piqued interest causing him to lean forward.

"She told me that she intentionally missed the meeting because it was in my best interest for the deal to fall through."

"Wait a minute," Shepard said confused, "she intentionally missed the meeting?"

"And it was in your best interest not to negotiate a deal with a major sporting franchise that would have brought your restaurant money and publicity?" Garrus asked.

"I know" Danzic replied, "I couldn't understand it either. She had always believed in me and my restaurant and she was willing to do whatever she could to help it succeed. Hence why she asked her critic friend to come here. Which begs the question, why would she sabotage a deal that would have done the same thing? Things got more confusing when she explained what she meant. She said that the day we were supposed to have that meeting, she found out something troubling about the Peacekeepers. Before you ask, she didn't tell me what it was. All she did say was she planned to make the information public soon and that keeping me from becoming a sponsor was the only way to guarantee I wouldn't get caught in the fallout when she did."

* * *

Both Shepard and Garrus were stumped. They had been sitting in their skycar since their interview with Danzic had ended for several minutes. Garrus hadn't even bothered to start the car yet. They weren't in a rush to go anywhere. Then again they weren't quite sure where they were going next anyway. All they could think about was what Danzic had said towards the end of the interview.

On the one hand, it allowed them to nail down the exact day that Shara began behaving unusual. That would be a big help to their investigation because they now had a starting point for the timeline they would be putting up on their murder board to chart the events that led to Shara's murder. Danzic's statement also gave them a strong motive for the killer. If the secret Shara had learned really could cause severe fallout for the Peacekeepers if it were made public, then anyone in the organization would have a reason to kill her to keep the secret from getting out.

Even with this new information however, Shepard and Garrus had two big obstacles keeping them from being able to identify the killer. The first was that the Peacekeepers were a large organization with thousand's of employees. It would take them days of running down the names just to find out which ones had a strong enough motive to kill Shara. The other obstacle was that they didn't know what exactly Shara had uncovered. If they knew that, they might be able to figure out which employees would be the most affected by the information getting out and narrow down their list of suspects. Since they didn't and were facing a large haystack of suspects to go through, Shepard and Garrus sat in the car running through what they knew about the case up to that point.

"It would seem Shara wasn't completely lying when she told Torro that she was missing their date nights because of work," said Garrus, "she just wasn't actually working on company time, hence there wasn't an increase in her paycheck to show she had been working extra hours. She couldn't let her employers know what she was doing so she was doing her work in secret, off the clock."

"That makes sense," Shepard replied while nodding, "it would also explain why she didn't tell her coworkers what she was doing. I'm sure she trusted all three of them but she also wouldn't want to put them in the uncomfortable position of having to lie to the people they work for."

"Which means that we're not going to get anywhere if we keep talking to the people who knew Shara the best. She kept them all out of the loop. Guess we're going to have to find a new avenue of investigation."

"(BEEP)"

Shepard and Garrus' conversation was interrupted by the sound of Garrus' omni-tool beeping. Garrus' eyes widened when he saw the caller I.D. He angled his omni-tool towards Shepard so he could see it. The call was coming from the Citadome. Garrus hit a button to answer to call and the two detectives were greeted by the holographic image of Vala Isali.

"Detectives," she said, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I was just curious how things went at Starfire."

It took a lot of effort for Shepard and Garrus to hide their surprise. How did Vala know where they were? They didn't even see her after they finished their interview with Shara's coworkers so they couldn't have told her where they were going even if they wanted to. In spite of their efforts to hide their surprise, Vala was able to figure out what they were thinking.

"Shara's team told me what you discussed during your interview with them. They may have been willing to talk to you without me present but I still wanted to know what was discussed since their answers could have an impact on the Peacekeepers as a whole, which I represent. Anyway, did you have any luck? Do you think Mr. Danzic killed Shara?"

Now Shepard and Garrus were trying to hide the boiling frustration they were feeling. Not only was Vala, and maybe the Peackeepers as a whole, poking around in their investigation but now they were expecting them to give them status updates. In the first place, Bailey was the only one they had to provide updates to. Not only that, but as a lawyer, Vala should know full well that they couldn't reveal anything since they were going to need to keep some facts close to their chest so that they could have leverage when they interrogate a suspect. With those things in mind, Shepard and Garrus should have just hung up on Vala.

But they didn't because an idea was forming in their minds. For some reason, Vala and the Peacekeepers wanted to keep a close watch on the investigation. Maybe it was because they wanted to be sure Shepard and Garrus didn't stumble onto something they didn't want them to. What if it was the same thing Shara stumbled onto and was killed over. The Peacekeepers also promised Shepard and Garrus would have the organization's full cooperation. If the two of them played nice with the Peacekeepers, they might just be able to use that cooperation to find out what the secret was. With the plan formed, Shepard spoke first.

"Unfortunately no," he said, "Mr. Danzic's restaurant is doing well. The idea that he killed Shara as revenge for ruining his business is now highly unlikely."

"Oh," Vala said with a disappointed look on her face, "I see. So do you have any other leads?"

"Well," Garrus replied, "while Starfire may have been a bust, I'm afraid we can't quite rule out the possibility that Shara was killed over something work related. Would you mind if we came back to the Citadome tomorrow for some follow up questions?"

Instead of replying, Vala looked towards someone who was off-screen. A voice Shepard and Garrus couldn't quite understand started speaking. When the voice stopped talking, Vala looked like she was about to protest against what the voice said but froze. The source of the voice was doing something off-screen that forced Vala into silence. She then turned so she was facing Shepard and Garrus again.

"That'll be fine Detectives," she said, "Mr. Wilkinson and I will greet you when you arrive."

"Thank you Ms. Isali," said Garrus, "we have a meeting first thing in the morning but we'll be at the Ciatadome as soon as we're done. See you then."

When the call ended, Shepard and Garrus shared a smile with each other. Their plan not only worked but it convinced them they were on the right track. If Lyle Wilkinson, the owner of the Peacekeepers wanted to meet with them, then they were onto something huge. Unfortunately they were going have to wait until the next day to find out more. After hitting the case hard for the past several hours, the smart thing for them to do at that point was head home and get some rest. As soon as the new day began, the investigation would continue.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events of this chapter are based on the "I Remember Me" assignment from the first Mass Effect game. Since my Shepard has the Earthborn background, he never experiences the assignment. However, the assignment was so enjoyable the one time I played the game with a Colonist background that I always wished there was a way for the assignment to be incorporated with the Earthborn background. Through the magic of fan fiction, I am able to do just that. But the events of the assignment are not just being thrown into this story for my personal enjoyment. As you'll see in the next chapter, this event is going to play a part in one of this story's sub-plots. Stay tuned to find out how.

Both Shepard and Garrus had not eaten anything since breakfast and were feeling hungry. Their first thought was to give Starfire a try but there was still a long line for a table. Wanting to get back home to their wives as soon as possible, they instead went to a nearby fast food place. They got their food via the drive-thru and ate in their skycar after they found a parking spot. While they ate, they brainstormed about their approach for the interview with Jacobson the next day. They finished brainstorming just as they finished eating. Before they could pull out of their parking spot to head back to C-SEC, a transmission from C-SEC dispatch came in on their radio.

"Any available unit," the dispatcher said, "officer requesting assistance. Disturbed individual with a gun at docking bay D17. Any available unit please respond."

Shepard and Garrus nervously looked at each other. Technically their shift was over and they both wanted to head home to rest. However they weren't officially off-duty yet and could still respond to calls if they chose. The call did sound serious but it wasn't like there weren't other officers out there who could help. While all those thoughts entered Shepard and Garrus' mind, they were only there for a brief second. Because who were they kidding? There was no way they were not going to answer the call. There were a lot of people that passed through the docking bays. If the disturbed individual with a gun walking among them were to snap, a lot of people could get hurt…or worse. Their minds made up, Garrus picked up the radio's transmitter.

"This is Detective Vakarain," he said, "show Detective Shepard and myself on route to the officers needing assistance."

"Copy Detective Vakarian," replied the dispatcher, "Patching you through to the ranking officer on scene. He'll give you the brief. Detective Vakarain, you're on with Lieutenant Girard."

"Lieutenant, what can you tell my partner and I about the situation?"

"It's bad Detective," said the voice of Lieutenant Girard, "there is a woman here. She was rescued from batarian slavers a few weeks ago. She's from Mindoir. I guess she was taken in the raid."

The last statement caused Shepard to tense up. There wasn't a human in the galaxy who didn't know about the raid that happened on the farming colony of Mindoir. In 2170, the colony was raided by batarian slavers. They slaughtered most of the colonists upon arriving. As it turned out, the colonists who died were the lucky ones. The colonists who were still alive were enslaved by the batarians and subjected to horrific cranial implants that allowed to batarians to control them. The Alliance military dispatched troops to save the colonists and drive the batarians out. Sadly the rescue efforts were in vain as the soldiers were pinned down by the batarians and could do nothing but watch as the colonists were taken away. When Shepard joined the military two years later, he met some of the soldiers who were there and he saw the guilt they were all feeling for not being able to save the colonists. He also saw the strong hatred they were feeling toward batarians. The attack on Mindoir marked the beginning of the hostile relationship between humans and batarains.

Since the end of the Reaper War, humans and batarains had a more diplomatic relationship and the batarians abandoned their culture's long ingrained practice of slavery. There were still some batarians among the pirate gangs who were slavers but at least they were no longer supported by the batarian government. As for how the events on Mindoir were resolved, the last Shepard heard was that the majority of the captives had been rescued. After a period of time where none of the remaining abducted colonists were found, the Alliance declared them missing, presumed dead. If what Lieutenant Girard said was true, one of them may have finally been found. Sadly that meant one other thing.

Shepard took the radio from Garrus, "Lieutenant Girard, this is Detective Shepard. Are you saying this woman's been a slave for the last nineteen years?"

"I'm afraid so." Girard replied. "suffice it to say the years in captivity have taken a toll on her. She's a little…messed up. We were transporting her to a counseling center when she got free somehow. She grabbed a gun from one of my guys and now she's hold up here in the docking bay. She…she says she wants to die."

Girard's last statement solved one of the concerns Shepard and Garrus had when they first heard the call. The woman was sounding less like someone who was about to commit a mass shooting. As long as Girard and his men kept any civilians from getting near her, they would be fine. However what the situation was now sounding like was someone who was ready to commit suicide. A person with a renegade nature would say the easy answer to the situation was to let the woman kill herself as anyone who tried to stop her might end up getting killed. But Shepard and Garrus were not renegades.

"We're on our way Lieutenant," said Garrus, "sit tight."

"Thank you detectives," replied Girard "Anything you two can do will be great. I don't want to…this woman's been through enough. I'll have my men stand by for you."

After hanging up the call, Garrus activated the skycar's sirens and drove it out of the parking space. With the sirens clearing the way for them, Shepard and Garrus would have no trouble getting to the docking bay quickly. On the way they thought about what awaited them. A severally traumatized and mentally broken down woman was contemplating suicide and it was going to be up to them to find some way to keep her from doing it.

* * *

Shepard and Garrus arrived at the docking bay to find the entrance swarming with C-SEC skycars and a couple of skycars from news stations. Bystanders were gathered around the barricade trying to get a look at what was happening. Not that there was a lot to see as the door to the docking bay was closed. Thanks to the officers on the scene moving the crowds aside to make a path, Garrus was able to drive the skycar close to the entrance. Thus they didn't have to get out of the skycar and walkthrough the crowds and possibly be stopped by reporters. As they exited the skycar, they each put on bulletproof vests. It was best not to take chances when dealing with an unstable woman with a gun. They had just finished strapping their vests on when they were greeted by Lieutenant Girard. To their surprise, he didn't seem too relieved to see them. Most cops would be happy to see the reinforcements they asked for arrive but with Girard it was almost like he was struggling just to give them a polite greeting.

"Detectives," he said, "glad to meet you both."

"Wish it were under better circumstances sir," Garrus said while he and Shepard shook hands with Girard, "is she inside?"

"Yes, she's behind some shipping containers. I've got a sniper positioned, but I don't think we'll need him. She's only a danger to herself. We've been trying to give her a sedative to calm her down, but we can't get close to her. Every step we take gets her more wound up."

Garrus nodded, "okay, how can we help?"

Girard sighed, "honestly detectives, I don't know if you can help. While you were on route, I looked you two up. I wanted to know who exactly was coming to help. Now that I know who you two are, I'm a little confused. No offense, but this isn't a murder scene so why would two homicide detectives be the ones who answered my call for help."

"No offense taken sir," Garrus said, "I can understand your confusion. Rest assured we're not here as homicide detectives. We're here as fellow officers who want to help. As for how we can help, both Detective Shepard and I have negotiating experience so maybe we can talk to her and convince her to take the sedative.

A look of guilt appeared on Girard's face, "okay, you're right Detective. I'm sorry for doubting you two. It's just…it's been tough. I want this end peacefully but I'm running out of ways to make that happen."

Girard glanced towards the loading bay door with a look of concern. It did not go unnoticed by Shepard.

"You seem awfully worried about her sir," he said.

Shepard's statement snapped Girard out of his thoughts, "I…I'm just doing my job, Detective Shepard. Anyway, if you two think you can talk her down, be my guest. Here's the sedative. Just don't push her too hard. If she seems liable to pull the trigger, back off. Or walk away. I'm willing to wait her out. Good luck, Detectives."

After taking the sedative, Shepard and Garrus left Girard to plan their strategy.

"It will be risky but I think only one of us should go in," said Garrus, "two strangers approaching her might set her off. The other person could take over for Girard's sniper and be a failsafe in case things go south."

"Sounds like a plan," Shepard replied, "give me the sedative. I'll go in."

Shepard's volunteering surprised Garrus, "are you sure you can handle it? You're still a little green."

Shepard gave Garrus an "are you serious" look, "I may be green as a C-SEC officer Garrus but this won't my first time trying to talk someone down. You should know that better than anyone."

The last statement caused Garrus to flinch. Shepard was referring to the personal mission he had helped Garrus with during their mission against the collectors. Garrus had wanted Shepard to help him locate and kill the man who had betrayed him on Omega and caused the deaths of his entire squad. They traced him to the Citadel and Garrus got into a sniping position and instructed Shepard to lure the target into his line of sight. Garrus' plan was working perfectly until Shepard intentionally stepped between Garrus and the target. In spite of Garrus ordering him to step aside, Shepard stood his ground. It took some careful talking with Garrus and the target but Shepard managed to talk Garrus out of carrying out his plan for vengeance. Garrus nodded to Shepard to indicate he understood and handed Shepard the sedative. He wished Shepard luck before heading off to relieve Girard's sniper. Once Garrus was gone, Shepard turned and walked towards the docking bay doors.

* * *

Garrus had to get in his skycar to head to the sniper position as it was located at the top of a tower on the opposite side of the loading bay. Fortunately C-SEC had blocked off all traffic so he was able to fly over without having to stop. Along the way, he radioed Girard to inform him about his and Shepard's plan. Girard replied that he would let his sniper know he was coming. Once Garrus parked, he pulled out his M-97 Viper sniper rifle. He quickly checked to make sure there was fresh thermal clip loaded in the chamber and headed towards the sniper position. A salarian officer was waiting there and stood to greet Garrus when he approached.

"I'm Officer Larka," he said, "The lieutenant radioed that you were coming, Detective. He said you were taking over for me?"

"I am," Garrus replied, "my partner is going in to talk to the girl and I want to be the one watching his back. If you want to stay and help, I could use a spotter."

"Copy that, sir."

As Garrus and Larka set up their gear, Garrus got his first good look of the loading bay through its viewing area. It was deserted except for one lone figure pacing back and forth by some crate. A quick glance through the scope of his rifle confirmed it was the girl and he saw the pistol in her hand. He could also see her lips moving and guessed she was nervously mumbling to herself. As tense as the situation was, there was one thing Garrus was grateful for. With no other people in the loading bay, he didn't have to worry about accidentally hitting an innocent civilian. Even once Shepard got inside, he would not step into Garrus' line of sight unless the situation was on the verge of being resolved. In short, Garrus would have no trouble making the shot if things went south.

"Shepard," he said into his radio once he was settled, "I've got eyes on the loading bay."

"Copy that," Shepard's voice replied, "any final instructions before I head in?"

"Keep your mic open so I'll be able to hear what's going on down there. Also we should set up a codeword for you to use when you want me to fire."

"Agreed. Let's just keep it simple and go with 'failsafe.' It worked for us before so it should work again."

"Copy. Codeword is 'failsafe.'"

"And Garrus?"

"Shepard?"

"I really want to bring this girl in alive so do not fire unless I say the codeword. Promise?"

"I promise. Go get her partner."

* * *

Shepard had finished his radio call with Garrus but kept his mic open per Garrus' request. He took a few calming breaths to prepare himself and walked through the loading bay doors. The doors opened and Shepard thought he heard a small gasp coming from inside. The woman heard the doors open and likely knew someone was coming. Shepard remained still for a second in case the woman came out from her hiding spot to investigate. When she didn't appear, Shepard slowly proceeded forward. He hugged the wall as he approached the corner. The crates the woman was hiding behind were just around it. There was no turning back now. He raised his hands and slowly stepped around the corner and then the crates.

"S…Stop! What do you…What are you?"

The voice made Shepard freeze where we was. He was now face to face with the woman and staring down the barrel of the pistol she had pointed at his head. As quick as he could, he ran through the first step of his impromptu plan to talk the girl down. At that moment the woman was stressed out because Shepard's presence was creating a lot of unknowns for her so he needed to remove one of those unknowns by introducing himself. He also needed to learn the girl's name. Knowing her name would make it easier to build a rapport with her.

"My name is Shepard," he said calmly while keeping his hands raised, "Lieutenant Girard sent me to talk to you. What's your name?"

Hearing Girard's name seemed to make the girl relax a little but not enough to make her lower her weapon.

"Animals don't get names," she said, "the masters put their symbols on her. Hot metal all over her back. She screams when they do it."

Hearing the woman call herself an animal made Shepard realize this was going to be harder than he expected. He was also getting a grim picture of some of the tortures this woman had endured. The batarians had conditioned in her mind that she was nothing but an animal and their property based on the symbol they branded on her. On the other hand, it also gave Shepard a way to talk the girl down. It was going to be tough given that she had been having batarians tell her other wise for almost two decades but he needed to help her remember her life before she was abducted.

"You're not an animal," he said, "your parents? What did they call you? Do you remember them?"

The girl thought for a second and then nodded, "she remembers a lot of things. Talitha. They call her that. Sh…She doesn't remember the rest. Leave her alone."

The girl now known as Talitha may have been hesitant to go on but Shepard knew he had to keep going. Learning Talitha's name was a big step in the right direction. She had also confirmed she remembered her parents. It was time to see how much she remembered about them.

"What happened to your parents?"

"There's…She sees them. They're yelling. Run. Hide. They hit the masters. But the masters, they have lights and hoses. Daddy's…He's melting! Sh…She doesn't want to see that! Don't make her look. Don't look! Stupid, stupid!"

Talitha's gun was no longer pointing at Shepard as she was now using her hands to hit herself on the head. It was as if she was trying to knock the memory she was having out of her head. This would have provided Shepard an opportunity to charge Talitha but he was still too far away from her to risk it. The only thing he could do was keep his present course.

"I know it hurts, Talitha. I'm sorry. But you need to deal with this. What happened to them? Think."

Talitha stopped hitting herself in the head and began to tear up, "when she thinks, water comes out of her eyes. The masters beat her when she wastes water. So she doesn't think anymore. She sees them. Mommy and Daddy. Burning in white light. Melting. Going to pieces. They can't ever say anything to her. They're dead, Shepard. They try to save her, and the masters burn them. Can she stop remembering now? Please?"

Talitha appeared to have significantly calmed down since Shepard first saw her. Her using Shepard's name also indicated she was becoming comfortable talking to him. It was time for him to close the gap between them. Both figuratively and literally.

"I'm going to take a step towards you now," he said, "Okay?"

With extreme caution, Shepard took a step towards Talitha and slowly lowered his hands. He was just about to bring his back foot forward to join his front foot when he noticed the room seemed to be getting lighter. Glancing up, he saw that none of the overheard lights were turning on. Where was the light coming from? Suddenly he noticed his shadow was rising off the floor and enveloping Talitha. The light was coming from behind him.

The light had now caught Talitha's attention and she looked behind Shepard to see a skycar hovering outside the large window. A logo on the side of the vehicle indicated that it was from one of the news stations that was covering the situation. Her eyes widened in terror and she quickly raised her gun and pointed it in the direction of the light which was now directly behind Shepard.

"No!" She screamed. "she's no good. Don't want to be handled again!"

(BANG!)

* * *

"I'm going to take a step towards you now, okay?"

Through the lens of his sniper scope, Garrus had been watching Shepard's talk with the woman now identified as Talitha. From what he was seeing so far, Shepard was making slow but good progress. Talitha was not pointing her gun at him anymore and he was getting ready to step closer to her. Garrus estimated that Shepard would need to make two more steps before he would be able to give Talitha the sedative. Things were going according to plan.

"What is that?"

Garrus' focus was interrupted when he heard Larkin speak next to him. He looked in the direction Larkin was and saw what prompted him to speak. What Garrus saw made his heart sink. A news skycar was approaching the docking bay. Knowing that he needed to keep his comm. dedicated to hearing Shepard, Garrus took Larkin's radio to call Girard.

"Lieutenant," he said urgently, "a news vehicle is inside the perimeter and heading for the docking bay. Requesting.…"

Before Garrus could finish his call, he was temporarily blinded when the news skycar turned on a spotlight. When it got closer to the docking bay, it turned the light so that it was pointing at Shepard and Talitha. Eventually the skycar stopped moving forward and was now hovering in a stationary position. Garrus looked though his scope and was horrified to see that skycar was in a position that completely blocked his scope's view. Though he could no longer see what was happening, Shepard's open mic allowed him to still listen. The next thing he heard was Talitha screaming.

"No! She's no good. Don't want to be handled again!"

(BANG!)

"Dammit!" Garrus shouted when he heard the shot.

Waiting for reinforcements to clear away the news skycar was now out of the question. Garrus needed to see what was happening and he needed to see it now. Taking quick aim, he fired his rifle at the skycar. The shot damaged the skycar so that it couldn't stay afloat. Fortunately for the occupants, Garrus ensured that he didn't damage the skycar's stabilizers meaning that the car would be able to land safely. With the skycar out of his view, Garrus saw that despite the gunshot, Shepard was still standing though Talitha had her smoking gun pointed at him again.

"Shepard," Garrus said over his comm., "you good?"

Shepard was not able to speak nor was he able to turn to acknowledge Garrus. It was only when Garrus looked at Shepard's hands that he got his answer. One hand was held up towards Talitha in what looked like a calming gesture while the other seemed to be pointing in Garrus' general direction. Shepard was waving that hand up and down to silently give Garrus the "stand down" order. In that moment, Garrus let out the nervous breath he didn't realize he was holding. Despite the skycar's intrusion, Shepard still had things under control.

"Detective!" Girard screamed over Larkin's radio. "Are you out of your mind?! You can't just shoot down a skycar! You're lucky that no one in that car was hurt otherwise…!"

"No sir," Garrus said calm but coldly, "they're lucky I'm as good a shot as I am. They are also lucky that my partner is still alive despite them spooking the girl. We still have a chance of ending this peacefully but you need to tell your men on the perimeter to do their job and keep those jackals back. If I see another skycar trying to approach the docking bay, I won't be as gentle shooting it down as I was with this one. Now if you'll excuse me Lieutenant, I need to get back to watching my partner's six."

With nothing more to say, Garrus tossed the radio back to Larkin returned his focus to his scope. He tuned out everything around him and steadied his breathing. All he could do in that moment was watch, listen and wait. He would only react when and if Shepard used the codeword.

* * *

"It's okay Talitha," said Shepard, "the skycar's gone. No one else is going to interrupt us. It's just you and me now, okay?"

Talitha initially kept her gun pointed at Shepard's head. A drop of sweat started to slide down Shepard's forehead. The skycar was a completely unexpected distraction and Shepard was worried that it just blew away his chance of ending the situation peacefully. Thankfully, it appeared the rapport he had built with Talitha made her trust him enough that she lowered her gun. Not wanting to give her a chance to rethink her decision, Shepard decided he had to get her talking again.

"Tell me Talitha," he said, "what's the last thing you remember from Mindoir?"

A tear appeared in Talitha's eye as a memory entered her mind, "fires. Smells of smoke and burning meat. Animals screaming as the masters cage them. As they put the metal to their backs. Put the wires in their brains. She pretends to be dead. If she's dead, she can't work. But they know. She hopes they'll leave. But they put her in the pen. She didn't fight. She was already broken when they put the wires in."

Shepard felt like he was starting to see the whole picture. It wasn't just trauma that was troubling Talitha. There was also guilt. Guilt because she felt like she should have done something to fight back against her abductors. That wasn't surprising. of people who go through experiences like what Talitha had been through always feel like things could have turned out differently if they stood up and fight. But Shepard knew that in Talitha's case, it wouldn't have made a difference.

"Talitha," he said, "you were what? Six years old? No one blames you for staying quiet and hoping they'd go away. The only person blaming you is you."

Talitha bowed her head, "she wants to believe that. She wants to believe nothing would change. She doesn't want to be there anymore. In the pen. In the cages. Lying quiet while they do things to her."

The last line was almost a whisper. Shepard felt that was a sign that Talitha was calm enough that he could make his next move.

"I'm going to take a step towards you now. Okay?"

One step closer. Shepard was now only one step away from being in the prime position to offer Talitha the sedative. He contemplated taking another step but Talitha put a stop to that thought. Seeing Shepard approach her caused Talitha to take a step back towards the wall.

"She doesn't want…Don't touch her!"

Despite Talitha taking.a step back, Shepard still only needed to take one more step. The wall behind Talitha guaranteed that she couldn't widen the gap between the two of them anymore. All Shepard needed was to keep Talitha talking just a little bit longer. Fortunately he knew exactly what to talk about as it was the one piece of Talitha's story he hadn't heard the details about yet.

"How did you get here?" He asked. "Did you escape?"

"She can't escape," Talitha replied, "they have chains. Wires. Needles. You go too far, they take your brains away. Animals like her come. Animals with guns. They make the masters explode. She tries to fix the masters. So they won't be mad at her. She puts all the reds and purples back in, but they don't move. The other animals take her."

Shepard had to resist letting out a depressed sigh. What should have been the happy ending to the story was just as sad as the rest of it. He was now going to have the mental picture of Talitha kneeling by her dead captors and trying to fix them while her rescuers likely had to drag her away. As sad as it was to hear however, Shepard couldn't blame Talitha for her actions in that moment either.

"You were afraid," he said, "all you'd know for nineteen years was the "masters" abuse. So you tried to heal them."

"She doesn't want to see other animals. They're not real. They can't be real. They can't see her. If the animals can see her, then this is real. But it can't be. The wires. The chains. The hitting. This doesn't happen to her. It's another girl. A dirty girl. A stupid girl. She deserves it! It…It happens to her. Doesn't it? They see her, so it's real. She doesn't want it to be real."

Whether it was because she had fully come to trust Shepard or because the events had made her exhausted, Talitha was now in the calmest state she had been since Shepard first saw her. It was now the moment of truth. Slowly Shepard reached into his pocket for the sedative. To keep Talitha from seeing and misinterpreting what he was doing, he spoke.

"I'm going to take a step towards you now. Okay?"

"Please don't touch her," Talitha said as Shepard took a step, "she's dirty. You'll catch it."

Unlike the previous times she had told Shepard to stay back, Talitha didn't speak in a scared tone. Shepard was amazed that she was still standing based on how exhausted she looked. With the sedative now in hand, he held it out for Talitha. She looked initially unsure about to do with it but then she to took it from Shepard's hand, put it in her mouth and swallowed it. Within seconds, she collapsed as the pill took effect. It was only thanks to Shepard's quick reaction that he was able to catch her before she hit the floor.

"Talitha," Shepard said as he gently helped Talitha down, "that pill I gave you will make you sleep. Once you fall asleep, you'll be taken to a place where you can get better."

"Will she have bad dreams?" Talitha asked as her eyes slowly started to close."

The truth was Shepard didn't know the answer to that question. From his own experiences, his dreams were full of nightmares for a time after he experienced a traumatic event. However he felt that even his worst experience was nothing compared to the years of torture and abuse Talitha had been through. But there was no way he would tell her that. Instead he was going to give her hope for the opposite to happen. After all, she likely had given up hope of being rescued and that still happened. With that in mind, Shepard stepped around Talitha so that he was behind her. He gently lowered her so that they were both sitting down. The wall behind Shepard providing him support and he providing support for Talitha. He the proceeded to rock side to side like he was rocking Talitha to sleep.

"You'll dream of a warm place," he said as a tear appeared in his eye and fell down his cheek, "And when you wake up, you'll be in it."

Though he couldn't see her face, Shepard had a feeling that Talitha was smiling.

"She'd like that," she said, "It hurts when she…when I remember me. But she…she wants to….remember."

After barely finishing her last statement, Talitha fell asleep. Even so, Shepard didn't stop rocking. He figured it was best to play it safe and give it a few minutes for Talitha to be in a deep enough sleep that he could safely be moved. Knowing his mic was still open, Shepard didn't have to lift his arm and touch his ear to communicate with Garrus.

"Garrus," he said in a barely audible whisper, "the situation's code four. All clear. Talitha took the sedative and is falling asleep."

A relieved sigh from Garrus was the initial sound Shepard heard over his comm., "that's great Shepard. Good work. I'll radio the lieutenant and tell him that he and his men can come get her."

"No," Shepard replied, "tell him to wait a few more minutes before coming in. Talitha's been through enough. Let's give her some time to just sleep."

"Understood. Good job, partner. I'll meet you at the car. Vakarian out."

Once Garrus signed off, Shepard continued to rock Talitha back and forth. Initially he stayed quiet but then a thought came to him. He wanted to do all he could to ensure she didn't have a nightmare. To that end, he silently sung a lullaby that he had been learning to sing for his and Ashley's baby. It was his hope that singing the song to Talitha would help her dream about the warm place he told her about.

_I see trees of green, red roses too_

_I see them bloom for me and you_

_And I think to myself what a wonderful world_


	8. Chapter 8

Garrus had been waiting by the skycar for about thirty minutes when he saw Shepard approaching. He didn't mind the wait however since he knew Shepard was doing something important. Besides he was enjoying watching things calm down around the area. The reporters had packed up and left after they got footage of Talitha being taken away in an ambulance. Most of the officers on scene left shortly afterward. During that time, Garrus watched as Shepard stayed by Talitha's side as she was loaded in the ambulance and then went to debrief with Girard. Shepard was likely going over every detail of his time with Talitha in the docking bay. Not just because it was procedure, Garrus thought, but also because all the things he learned about Talitha would be useful to helping the doctors treat her. Now that the debriefing was over, Shepard walked over to the skycar looking like he was ready to go home and collapse on a couch.

"Ready to finally call it a day partner?" Garrus jokingly asked since they were both several hours past the time their shift was supposed to have ended.

"More than ever," Shepard sighed, "I'm so tired I'm going to need to sleep for a week in order to get back to full strength."

Garrus chuckled as he and Shepard got into their skycar, "well we both know that's not going to happen. We have to follow up with the techs and Dr. Solus in the morning and then interview Wilkinson at the Citadome. Though I don't blame you for being exhausted. Things got pretty tense there for a second. Speaking of which, sorry it took me so long to take out that news skycar."

"It's okay, Garrus. I had the situation under…"

Suddenly Shepard snapped wide awake as Garrus' last statement was fully processed in his mind. He was well aware that a skycar nearly ruined his chances of talking Talitha down but he didn't know it was news skycar. Adding that factor to the equation resulted in a thought that caused Shepard to feel ill. This was picked up by Garrus when he noticed Shepard's face turning pale.

"What's wrong Shepard?!" he asked anxiously.

"We need to get back…now!" Shepard said as he frantically gestured for Garrus to start the car. "I need to get home before Ashley watches the news tonight."

"Why?" Garrus asked while getting the skycar moving.

"Because she CAN NOT see what the news skycar filmed before you shot it down. If she does, I'm never going to hear the end of it."

"Okay Shepard. I'll get us home ASAP. But in the meantime, maybe now might be a good time for you to tell me what's going on. Does this have something to do with what you were talking about back at Starfire?"

Shepard let out a deep breath to compose himself before continuing. "you're right. Now is as good a time as any I guess. The thing is Garrus, Ashley wasn't entirely thrilled about me joining C-SEC after we left the military. She tries to be supportive but the truth is she's worried that something will happen to me. The last thing she wants is for our baby to grow up without their father. If she watches the news tonight, she's going to see how her worst fear was dangerously close to coming true."

"What do you mean?"

"When that news skycar showed up, Talitha shot at it to scare it away. Unfortunately the skycar was literally right behind me at the time. When she fired her shot, the gun was aimed right at my head. Luckily I was able to realize what was about to happen and dodged out of the way. But Garrus, if I had taken just a split-second longer to dodge, I'd be dead right now and no doubt Talitha would be too. I felt the bullet fly right by my ear, it was that close."

Garrus was stunned into silence when Shepard finished telling his story. He had been wondering what had happened in the docking bay while the skycar blocked his view but now he almost wished he didn't find out. Realizing that his partner and best friend came so close to death was horrifying to hear. If that was how he was feeling after hearing about it, he hated to think how Ashley would take it. He now understood why Shepard was so desperate to get home…at least he understood part of it.

"Sounds like you really did have a close call in there Shepard," said Garrus, "but there is one thing I don't understand. Yes Ashley won't be thrilled if she hears about what happened tonight but she should be glad that you managed to save Talitha's life. Not a lot of officers would have taken the risk you did to save her."

To Garrus surprise, the reassuring compliment he gave didn't result in an appreciative smile from Shepard. Instead it seemed to have the opposite effect. The comment seemed to make Shepard sadder. Shepard turned to face away from Garrus and looked sadly out the window.

"That's actually the main reason she'll be mad at me Garrus," Shepard said, "I've been trying to reassure her that I won't take any unnecessary risks on this job but she knows that I won't be able to keep that I see someone in danger, my focus is solely on saving them, no matter the risk. Even my wife and unborn child get pushed to the back of my mind. It's because I don't worry about staying alive for my family that I'm able to take the risks I do to save lives. Believe me Garrus, I feel terrible about putting my family behind saving the lives of strangers but I just can't sit by and do nothing when people are in danger."

Garrus sighed, "I know what you mean. Look Shepard, I don't know if this will help but I think you're forgetting one important thing. You do take risks to save lives but you would never do anything that had no chance of you surviving. The way I see it, you're not pushing your family to the back of your mind to help you save lives, it's your family that keeps you from doing anything suicidal in order to do it."

Finally the smile Garrus was looking for began to appear on Shepard's face, "I never thought of it that way. Thanks Garrus."

"Anytime Shepard. Now let's get you home."

To that end, Garrus flipped on the skycar's siren and drove through the traffic in what could be viewed as an attempt to set a record for the fastest time to reach C-SEC HQ.

* * *

Garrus quietly entered his apartment and resisted his normal habit of turning on a light. When no sounds greeted him, he figured that he made a good call. The events at the docking bay had led to him getting home late enough that Tali was already asleep. Though he had every intention of letting his wife sleep, a part of Garrus wished that she was still awake. His ideal way of ending his day was by having a nice, tender moment with his wife. Especially after how rough things went the last time they were together.

From the beginning of their relationship, Garrus and Tali knew that there were going to be times when their professions would come into conflict with each other. Tali was responsible for representing the wants and needs of the quarians while Garrus was responsible for the safety of all the species who lived on the Citadel. While they both respected the pressures their spouse faced in their jobs, they each also loved their own jobs too much to let personal feelings for each other get in the way of doing them effectively. Which was why they made a promise to each other to keep their professional and personal lives as far apart as possible. When they were at work, they were Detective Vakarian and Ambassador Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. When they were at home, they were Mr. and Mrs. Vakarian.

Garrus went to the living room and collapsed into his chair. He was too exhausted to go up the stairs to the bedroom. It was probably for the best. He would risk waking Tali if he tried to crawl into bed and he was more than capable of sleeping comfortably in his chair. With his mind made up, Garrus closed his eyes and started to fall asleep.

"(kiss)….welcome home."

The attempt to fall asleep was interrupted when Garrus felt a peck on his cheek and opened his eyes to see Tali's face smiling at him. Getting his second wind, he grabbed Tali's head and pulled her in for a kiss on the lips. Tali then sat on Garrus lap and snuggled her head against his chest.

"It's good to be home," said Garrus, "did I wake you when I came in?"

"No," Tali replied, "I was waiting for you. We've always said we should never go to bed angry. With the way we left things at the embassy, I thought we should have one relaxing moment together before going to bed."

Garrus let out a relaxing sigh, "thanks honey. That sound's great. After the day I've had, I really need one."

Tali looked at Garrus and gave him sly smile while speaking with a sarcastic tone, "are you saying that because of what happened at the embassy or because of what happened at the docking bay?"

Normally Garrus would have responded with a sarcastic remark whenever Tali said one to him but froze when he had fully processed what she said. He had never mentioned being at the docking bays let alone what had happened there. There was only one way she could know about it. What was worrying Garrus the most however was that if she knew, then maybe…

Tali spoke (or rather squealed) again before Garrus could finish his thought, "I'm sorry but I couldn't wait for you to bring it up. That's the other reason I waited up for you. I saw you and Shepard on the news and you two were amazing! The whole time I was watching, I was on the edge of my seat."

"Tha…that's great honey but…"

"True, I thought the reporters were a bit harsh about you shooting down their skycar. I mean, you wouldn't have needed to do that if they didn't spook that girl and almost get Shepard killed."

"That's okay. I'm over it. But I need to ask you…"

"But when Shepard came out carrying her, (sigh) that was one of the most heroic things I've ever seen him do. And he's done a lot of heroic stuff. I'll bet Ashley's proud of Shepard after watching that."

A chill went up Garrus' spine, "how…how do you know Ashley was watching it?"

"Because I called her when I saw you and Shepard talking to that lieutenant on the news. She said she was…"

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

Garrus shot up out of the chair, knocking Tali off his lap. He anxiously paced back and forth as he realized that Shepard's fear was coming true. Their talk with Girard happened long before Shepard's close call with Talitha. If Ashley turned on the news shortly after her call with Tali, she would have seen everything. He checked the clock on his omni-tool. Sure enough, it was too late for him to warn Shepard as he was likely at his apartment already. For a moment, he felt sorry for his partner as he thought of what awaited him.

It was a brief moment though as Garrus stopped pacing and looked at Tali who was trying to figure out what had suddenly come over her husband. Upon seeing her, Garrus gave her a mean glare but fought to keep it from blowing up into an outburst of anger and frustration. He might have been justified for doing so as her big mouth was apparently going to lead to two blowups. One between Shepard and Ashley and one between Garrus and Shepard once Shepard realized how Ashley found about incident at the docking bay. For all Garrus knew, Tali may have wrecked the friendship the four of them shared.

"Garrus?" Said Tali. "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Hearing Tali's scared voice brought Garrus out of his current thought and he then saw how scared Tali looked. Upon quick reflection, he realized that he was one the verge of overreacting. Yes it was true that Tali telling Ashley about what happened at the docking bay was the wrong thing to do but she didn't do for the wrong reasons. Tali just thought Ashley should see her husband being the hero that both of them knew Shepard to be. In the past, Ashley would have appreciated it. But what Tali could not have known and taken into account was the stuff Shepard mentioned to Garrus. It was now up to Garrus to explain to Tali what she had unintentionally done. Taking some calming breaths, Garrus sat back down in the chair.

"Tali," he said, "by telling Ashley about what happened at the docking bay, you allowed Ashley to see Shepard almost get killed on live TV."

The look on Tali's face indicated she wasn't making the connection, "well that wasn't my intention. I certainly didn't know that was going to happen when I called. But why is that a big deal? It's not the first time that Ashley has seen Shepard in a life threatening situation."

"I know Tali but they weren't about to become parents back then. Think about it, Ashley is about to have a baby and she has now seen just how close her child came to not having its father in its life."

Tali gasped and covered her mouth in shock when the pieces came together, "Kee'lah. I didn't…I mean I didn't even think about. Oh Kee'lah, what have I done?"

Garrus jumped up to help the lightheaded Tali and brought her back down onto his lap, "it's okay honey. I'm sure that everything will be fine. The important thing is to learn from our mistakes so that we don't repeat them."

"I know," Tali continued, "I know you're right. It's just…I can't believe that all these months later it's still not setting in for me that my best friend is a mother now. I should have been more considerate of that when I called her. I mean being the wife of a C-SEC officer is one thing but to have a child with one, no wonder she'd be terrified seeing Shepard in danger like that. Oh, who am I kidding though. I'm not a mother. I have no idea what it's like for Ashley right now. I probably never will. What kind of friend am I when I can't empathize with what she's going through?"

"Hey, you are a terrific friend. When you asked Ashley to be your matron of honor, she said herself that she thinks of you like a sister. And besides, you should never say never about you someday becoming a mother. We haven't ruled out the possibility that we can have children of our own. Even if we can't, we could always adopt. But I promise you, someday you will get to be a mother and you will be a great one."

Tali looked up at Garrus and smiled, "and I know you will make a great father. Thanks Garrus. I needed to hear that. I'll call Ashley tomorrow to make sure she's okay. Ready to go to bed?"

Without saying another word in response, Garrus stood up while holding Tali in his arms. He then carried her to their bedroom and it wasn't long before the couple fell asleep in each other's embrace.

* * *

Shepard checked the time as he stepped off the elevator. He had made it back to his apartment building with plenty of time to spare. The news was not scheduled to air their next regular broadcast for another fifteen minutes. While Shepard knew he was still going to have to deal with Ashley's reaction to his near death experience at the docking bay, he was glad he would at least be able to be the one to tell her about it first. Once he planned out what he was going to say when he saw Ashley, he entered the apartment.

"Hey beautiful," he called out when he was inside, "I'm home."

"We have just received word that C-SEC Detective Shepard has gone inside to try and talk the woman down."

The voice that Shepard heard was not Ashley's. The initial confusion Shepard felt turned to horror when he realized what the voice was talking about. He checked the time and saw that it was still too early for the next news broadcast to air. So how could Ashley be watching the news now?

As he approached the source of the voice and listened to it more, Shepard noticed that the voice was also talking like the events at the docking bay were happening right at that moment. He knew that was impossible since he was at home and the voice was talking about him being at the docking bay. In that moment, everything clicked together and Shepard realized his worst fear had come true. The only way Ashley could be watching the live coverage from the docking bay now was if she had recorded it when it originally aired. Which meant she would have had to know about it while it was happening. For that to be true, someone had to have to told her about it and he had a strong feeling who that person was.

The source of the voice was the TV in the living room. Ashley was sitting on the couch facing the screen but not really listening to it. This didn't surprise Shepard since Ashley would have heard and seen everything the first time she watched it. Everything Shepard was seeing was set up for him to see as soon as he got home. Deciding there was no point in saying anything at the moment, Shepard turned his focus to the playback which currently was showing a reporter outside the docking bay.

"One of our skycars has just gotten into a position that will allow us to see what's happening inside," the reporter said, "let's go to them now."

The playback then cut to a shot showing Talitha and Shepard. Talitha had just become aware of the skycar's presence and aimed her gun towards it. Unfortunately the view couldn't show that because Shepard was in the camera's line of sight. The gun was obscured behind his head.

"No!" Talitha screamed. "She's no good. Don't want to be handled again!"

Ashley quickly hit a button on the remote and caused the playback to play in slow-motion. She set it for the slowest speed possible. As the footage slowly played on, Shepard watched as the gun fired and his video self ducked to the side. He knew that the bullet was close to hitting him but the slow-motion playback showed he had no idea just how close it actually was. Ashley paused the video and the frozen frame showed the bullet flying literally inches from Shepard's left ear. It was at that moment she slowly turned to face Shepard.

"Is there something you want to tell me Mark?" Ashley said in a cold tone.

Shepard took a few cautious steps towards Ashley, "Ash, please, I can explain."

Ashley stood up before Shepard could continue, "explain what? That you were almost killed by a crazy woman? That you were out answering a call when you were supposed to be off-duty and coming home?"

"Ash…"

"Or maybe you should explain why you deliberately put yourself in that position despite the fact that you might have been killed and left our child without a father."

Shepard took another step towards Ashley and tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Ash, I…"

Ashley walked past Shepard and headed for the stairs leading to the bedroom. She stopped short of walking up when she let out a surprise gasp. The baby was kicking again. Bowing her head and with her eyes filling with tears, she gave her belly a gentle pat to in attempt to calm the baby.

"How could you do that to us Mark?" Ashley asked while not taking her eyes off her belly. "Did you even think about us when you decided to take that call?"

"Of course I did," Shepard said, "not a minute goes by where I don't think about you and our baby. But I couldn't just ignore someone who needed help."

"Even when that 'someone' is a mentally disturbed woman with a gun who could shoot you at anytime?"

"Ash, that woman had been held as a slave for almost two decades. Nobody can go through that without scars. Thanks to Garrus and me, she now has a chance to put that behind her and have a normal life."

"But what if she doesn't? Twenty years of painful memories is a lot for someone to overcome. She could potentially spend the rest of her life in a mental institution. Of course, that's assuming she doesn't relapse. You might have been able to talk her down this time Mark but you won't be there to stop her if she snaps again. If that does happen, then you will have risked getting killed for nothing."

"Ash…"

"You told me yesterday that your job was not going to put you in nearly as much danger as when you were a solider. But the way I see it, it wasn't the job that put you in danger. It was you choosing to take crazy risks that put you in danger. I guess I was a fool for thinking that us having a baby on the way would make you not take those kind of risks anymore."

When she finished speaking, Ashley stormed up the stairs and head for the bedroom. Shepard ran up the stairs after her but was unable to reach Ashley before she closed the bedroom door. He went to pull the door open when he heard a click. Ashley had engaged the door's lock. Despite knowing that was what happened, Shepard pulled on the door to try to open it but it wouldn't budge.

"Ash," said Shepard, "open the door."

Shepard was not one to panic easily but he was beginning to feel it overtake him. He and Ashley had some minor fights in the past but this was different. None of their fights ever got so bad that Shepard was faced with the risk of being forced to sleep on the couch. There used to be a spare bedroom he could have used but that was being turned into the baby's nursery. But the possible alternate sleeping arrangements was not Shepard's biggest worry. It was just the fact he was facing the risk of needing them at all.

"Ash, please, don't do this."

Shepard could hear movement on the other side of the door but it was likely Ashley was only getting dressed for bed. Normally in a standstill situation like this, Shepard would pull out his persuasive charm to help swing the outcome in his favor. In this case however, he refused to that. When he and Ashley got engaged, he swore to himself that he would never use his charm on Ashley again. He had used it before when he helped her overcome her distrust of the other races. While Shepard always used his charm for good causes, it wouldn't be hard for someone to misinterpret it as him manipulating people to his side. The last person he would ever want to be accused of manipulating was his wife. With that option off the table, that left Shepard with only one other choice. He would have to plead his case and hope for the best.

"Ash, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you had to see what you saw today. I wish I could promise that something like that won't happen again but we both know that's not going to happen. You're right about how it is my choice that puts me in risky situations and not just because my job calls for it. I will never be able to stand by and do nothing when someone needs help. That's just who I am. But you were wrong when you said that having a baby on the way hasn't affected that part of me. Ash, I love you and our baby more than anything in this galaxy. You give me a reason to come home everyday. I may put myself in risky situations but it's because of you and the baby that I will never put myself in a situation where I have no chance of surviving. What I'm trying to say is that while I can't promise that I won't put myself in risky situations anymore, I can promise you that I will do everything in my power to ensure I come home and our baby everyday."

Silence was the only response to Shepard's plea. He put his ear to the door but there was not even a faint sound to indicate Ashley was coming to open the door. Shepard wanted to try again but no there was no point. If Ashley had made up her mind and was not going to open the door, he was going to have to respect it. He turned around and started walking towards the stairs. He had made it to the top of the stairwell when he heard a click. Turning back to the door, he saw it slowly open. Ashley was on the other side wearing her evening lingerie. She still had tears in her eyes but she was managing to give a small smile as she reached out her hand for Shepard to take. Shepard smiled back as a feeling of relief came over him. He gently took Ashley's hand and followed her into the bedroom.


	9. Chapter 9

Garrus was looking at the murder board but his mind was elsewhere. He had arrived at C-SEC early to review the case. His hope was he might figure out something important and be able to share it when Shepard arrived. If he did, then maybe it would make Shepard briefly forget to be mad at him and Tali. Sadly no matter how much he looked over the board, his mind kept wandering back to thinking about what Shepard would do to him when he arrived.

The sound of a chair being dragged across the floor made Garrus turn around to see that Shepard was sitting down at his desk. There was no way that Shepard couldn't have seen Garrus standing by the murder board when he arrived. So the good news was that Shepard didn't just come in shouting at Garrus right off the bat. The bad news was Garrus couldn't tell if Shepard being silent was necessarily better. Deciding it was best not to delay the inevitable, Garrus sat at his desk and was now face to face with Shepard.

"Hey partner," he said.

Shepard looked up at Garrus with a neutral expression, "hey Garrus, anything on the board jumping out at you?"

"Uh…no. Nothing right now. Hopefully we'll learn something at the meeting to help us fit some of the pieces together. Look Shepard, Tali said she told Ashley about what happened at the docking bay. How mad was Ashley when you got home last night?"

"Well," Shepard replied with an exhausted sigh, "she was mad enough that I almost ended up sleeping on the couch."

"Spirits. I'm sorry Shepard. I may not know a lot about human marriages but I know that a husband being forced to sleep on the couch is not a good thing."

"It's fine, Garrus. The keyword was 'almost'. I begged her not to make me sleep on the couch but I think it was her realizing what it would mean if she did that made her change her mind. It's too early to say if the discussion from last night is over. For now, I'm just happy that we're at least getting along and that I got a 'have a good day' kiss from her when I left for work today."

Garrus started to feel a sense of relief, "well I guess that's all we can ask for right now. If it helps, I talked to Tali and she's agreed to be more considerate when she talks to Ashley about our cases. Meaning she won't talk about anything that might worry her."

"I appreciate that. But enough about my drama at home. We have a meeting to get to before we head to the Citadome."

Garrus nodded his approval to the idea and he and Shepard made their way up to Bailey's office. Inside waiting for them was Bailey and Belon. Baily was seated behind his desk and Belon was standing next to him. The purpose of the meeting between the four men was to update each other on the investigation. The main items on the agenda were to hear the results of Belon's detailed examination of the body and Bailey going over the reports from the crime scene techs. Shepard and Garrus took seats in the chairs opposite Bailey's desk.

"Before we start," Bailey said once everyone was settled, "Vakarian, I thought you'd like to know we got a complaint from the news station whose skycar you shot down last night. Not only are they demanding compensation for the damages but they want to sue you for reckless endangerment."

"Sir please tell me you're kidding," replied Garrus.

"Do I look like I'm kidding Vakarian?" Bailey said with a serious look.

Garrus was about ready to stand and protest when Shepard held him down and spoke first, "sir that crew in the skycar were the ones guilty of reckless endangerment. They spooked Talitha and almost got me killed. Besides, they weren't in any danger because Garrus ensured that the damage was not enough to make them crash."

Bailey held up his hand in a reassuring gesture, "relax, both of you. Now it's not exactly procedure to shoot down news skycars…but you both know how I feel about procedures and formalities.

A sly smile appeared on Bailey's face when he finished his last statement. Similar smiles appeared on Shepard and Garrus' because they knew what Bailey was talking about. Back when Shepard met Bailey for the first time, he needed help getting his ID restored since he was still considered deceased following the original Normandy's destruction. Normally the process would have required stops at different bureaus and a lot of paperwork. But because he trusted the accuracy of the scanner's identification of Shepard, Bailey bypassed everything by reactivating Shepard's ID himself. When Shepard commented on how Bailey didn't seem to be one for following formalities, Bailey's response was that he was for them until they kept people from doing their jobs.

Bailey continued, "your job was to calm a tense situation and that skycar was preventing you from doing it. There was no way politely asking it to clear the area was going to work so you did what you had to. The way I see it, you two did an impressive job resolving that situation. I said as much when the executor asked for my input on the matter and he agrees with me. He said we're not going to give those people a single credit. They can fight it all they want but when we make the points that you just made Shepard, I'm confident a judge will rule in our favor."

"That's great to hear," said Garrus, "I appreciate you and the executor backing me up."

"We always look out for our own Vakarian. Now let's get down to business. I have the report from the crime scene techs. They're still working on trying to access Shara's terminal but it's taking a longer than they expected. Apparently its got some pretty heavy security program installed on it."

"Really?" Asked Garrus. "What does she have on that terminal that would warrant that much protection?"

"We'll just have to wait for the techs to crack it to find out. They did however have something interesting to report from their analysis of the crime scene. They swept the entire place but they didn't find anything."

"How is that possible?" Shepard asked. "We know there was a struggle when Shara was killed. The odds of the killer not leaving behind something during that is almost impossible."

"Listen carefully to what I said detectives, they swept the entire crime scene but they didn't find ANYTHING."

Garrus straightened up in his chair, "you mean there were no traces of any DNA, not even Shara's?"

"Exactly. Whoever killed Shara did not want us finding anything that could tie them to the scene. They gave that living room a thorough cleaning."

"Well I guess they had plenty of time to do it," said Shepard. "they killed Shara without alerting anyone and Shara's body wasn't discovered for several hours. Plus we know that this murder was premeditated so maybe the killer had a plan to clean up after themself from the beginning."

"Could be," Garrus replied, "what worries me though is how throughly the scene was cleaned. Most of the time when a murderer cleans a scene that good, they're usually a professional. Which means this could have been a hired hit."

Shepard shook his head, "I don't think so. Hitmen don't usually have personal connections to their targets. Otherwise their emotions get in the way and they're more likely to make mistakes. We know that Shara knew her killer because she let them inside and the overkill suggests the killer was full of rage against her. There's just too much emotion behind this for it to be the work of a cold and calculated hitman."

Bailey nodded, "I think Shepard's right. Unfortunately the fact that the killer was calculated enough to ensure nothing was left behind is still going to make it difficult for us to identify them."

Garrus looked towards Belon, "Doc, please tell us that you found something that will help with that."

"Maybe," Belon replied, "autopsy confirmed theory from crime scene. Victim dead after knife pierced heart. Fatal wound was among first inflicted. As for helping identify killer, made two observations might provide helpful. Examined knife wounds closely. Angle suggests killer was right handed. Also found faint impression of hand on victims mouth."

Shepard and Garrus attentively leaned forward in their chairs. There were millions of people on the Citadel of many races. But they didn't need to investigate all of them, just the ones that were connected to Shara. The handprint Belon found had the potential to cut a large portion of their suspect pool based of one key feature: the number of fingers it had. If it had three, there would still be a semi-large pool due to the number of races that had three fingers. If it had five, then they were golden as only three races had five fingers. Humans, batarians and asari. They held their breath as they waited for Belon to continue.

"Unfortunately impression was just palm. No fingers."

The air left Shepard and Garrus causing their shoulders and heads to drop. So much for having a way to narrow down their suspect pool.

"Handprint can still help," Belon said in an attempt to boost their spirits, "size of palm rules out several species. Too small for elcor. Though considering fact killer was on top of victim while stabbing her, already figured that. Victim would have been crushed if one had been on top of her. Can prove it because victim had no crushed bones or organs. Palm too big for volus. Also couldn't be hanar. Only have tentacles. Then again, highly difficult for either to be able to pin victim to ground anyway. Still, does narrow down list for you."

Shepard and Garrus sighed. They hadn't encountered either of the the species Belon mentioned during their investigation so the info wasn't narrowing their suspect list at all. Still it was helpful information for their case and a good investigator doesn't turn down any information that helps their case. It was now up to them to work with the info Bailey and Belon gave them and keep investigating until they uncover the killer.

"Alright," said Garrus, "thanks for the info Doc. Shepard and I have a meeting at the Citadome. Anything else before we go, Commander?"

Bailey shook his head, "not at this time. Just be safe out there. From what the techs found, this killer is pretty smart. Add the fact that they're extremely violent when they're angry, confronting them may be dangerous."

Shepard and Garrus nodded to indicate they understood and started to walk out of Bailey's office.

The Citadome parking lot was busier than it was the previous day. According to Garrus, it was a game day. All the additional vehicles were likely employees arriving early to get the stadium ready to receive guests. Whatever Shepard and Garrus planned to do at the stadium, they would need to get it done before the guests arrived. If they found themselves needing to chase and/or shoot a suspect, it would be better if there were no civilians potentially getting into the crossfire.

After being let through the gate by the same guard who let them in the previous time, they pulled into the first available parking spot they found that was close to the entrance. Standing on the other side of the door to greet them was Vala. Shepard and Garrus were relieved to see that Maul was not with her. They doubted that having an appointment this time would make him treat them any better. Vala greeted them when they entered the stadium and asked for them to follow her to the conference room.

On the way to the conference room, Shepard and Garrus saw the stadium slowly coming alive. Shopkeepers were getting their concessions/souvenir stands ready for customers. The housekeeping staff were putting some final touches cleaning up the place. Finally they saw some security personnel inspecting the cameras making sure they were operational. Everything you would expect to see at a stadium prepping for a game day. They were just about to enter a stairwell when Garrus notched something that made him stop. Shepard turned to see why Garrus stopped and noticed that he looked almost…starstruck. He looked in the direction that Garrus was facing and it was then he saw what got Garrus' attention.

Though he was not an avid biotiball watcher, Shepard had seen enough games featuring the Peacekeeper's to recognize the well dressed salarian walking towards them. It was Kaban Jeel, the Peacekeepers' star player and team captain. Garrus on the other hand was like a fan trying hard to contain his excitement while meeting his favorite celebrity. Shepard silently hoped Vala would say something to distract Kaban before he noticed Garrus' starstruck expression. Though it ended up being Kaban who spoke first.

"Vala," he said, "is Lyle up in his office?"

"Yes," Vala replied, "but you'll have to wait a bit before you can see him. I was just taking these detectives up there to speak with him. Detectives, this is Kaban Jeel, team captain of the Peacekeepers."

Kaban's eyes widened in surprise, "detectives? Is this about what happened to Shara?"

The familiarity in Kaban's use of Shara's name piqued Shepard's curiosity and brought Garrus out of his starstruck trance. While it was possible for someone from the biotiball team to work with the promotions team, it seemed unlikely they would interact often enough to be on a first name basis. Depending on how well Kaban knew Shara, he could potentially offer more insight. Though with how much luck Shepard and Garrus had talking to the people who knew Shara best, the chances of learning something new from Kaban seemed slim. Still they felt it was worth a try.

"It is Mr. Jeel," Garrus replied, "I'm Detective Vakarian and this is my partner, Detective Shepard. We're investigating Shara's murder. I take it you knew her?"

Kaban was about to reply when Vala stepped in front of him, "Detective, we need to get to the conference room," Vala interrupted, "Mr. Wilkinson is a busy man and we can't keep him waiting."

Garrus was surprised by the sudden interruption from Vala but quickly recovered so that it went unnoticed by everyone, "okay Ms. Isali. You and I can head upstairs while Detective Shepard stays down here and talks to Mr. Jeel. He can join us when he's done."

"Mr. Jeel and Ms. Shara'Vael rarely interacted with each other. You two would just be wasting your time asking him about her."

Once again Vala was making Shepard and Garrus have to work hard to keep their composure. It was bad enough that yesterday Vala was asking for them to update her on their investigation but now she appeared to be trying to tell them how to run their investigation. This was a situation Garrus in particular was used to since the main reason he originally quit C-SEC was because he was getting tired of having superiors looking over his shoulder and not letting him run investigations his way. Though his time with Shepard did help him see those moments differently, his blood would boil whenever non C-SEC personnel would try to tell him what to do. He looked to Shepard and gave him a silent signal to takeover since he knew Shepard would be able to handle the situation in a calmer manner. Shepard nodded he understood and stepped forward.

"With all due respect Ms. Isali," he said, "us talking with Mr. Jeel and finding out it was a waste of time is better than not talking to him and potentially missing some important information. Now you said that Mr. Wilkinson is waiting so you and Detective Vakarian better get upstairs. I'll be up shortly."

Vala didn't move from her spot, "Detective, as the Peacekeeper's advocate, I can't allow you to question whoever…"

"Enough," Kaban said, "it's okay, Vala. If the detectives think I can help, I'm happy to do what I can. I owe Shara that much."

Vala looked at back and forth between Kaban and the detectives. It was as if she was trying to decide who she should be angry at. She tried to dissuade Kaban from talking to Shepard and Garrus without her present but Kaban waved her off. After letting a frustrated sigh, Vala led Garrus to the stairwell. Once they were gone, Shepard led Kaban to some nearby seats.

"I appreciate the cooperation Mr. Jeel," he said as they sat down, "sorry that Ms. Isali is mad at you though."

Kaban chuckled, "It's no problem, Detective. I get that her job is to keep everyone in the organization out of trouble. But the way I see it, one of our own was killed and we should do what we can to help you guys find the killer."

"Thank you. So tell me, how well did you know Ms. Shara'Vael?"

"Well as Vala said, we didn't interact much here at work. The only time we'd meet was when she wanted to discuss some promotions she wanted me to be a part of. She really had a knack for coming up with great ideas to promote support for the team. With the luck the team's been having lately, we needed whatever support we can get. So I was happy to participate in whatever promotions Shara needed me for."

As Kaban spoke, Shepard watched and listened closely for any possible indications that he was lying. For the most part, none of the tell tale signs were there. But even though there was nothing to indicate Kaban was lying, Shepard felt like he wasn't telling him everything. Sure Kaban was probably grateful for all the support for the team Shara got but that was her job. It wasn't really something that would make Kaban feel like he owed it to Shara to help Shepard investigate her murder. There had to be more to it than that.

"Mr. Jeel, let me rephrase the question. Were you and Ms. Shara'Vael more than just coworkers?"

The question surprised Kaban, "what do you mean?"

Shepard continued, "I ask because you refer to her by her first name. That indicates to me you were familiar with each other enough that you could speak informally about her. You don't get that familiar with someone from a few random meetings to discuss promotions."

"Of course. Sorry, Detective. The truth is that Shara and I started with the Peacekeepers around the same time. Back then, I was a rookie player for the team. We ran into each other once in awhile and we bonded over the fact were both the new people in this large, long-running organization. After she became head of promotions, I was the first player she came to when she need one of us for her first campaign. It was a big hit and that campaign helped me get noticed by the higher ups in the organization. Between my talent and the popularity I gained from Shara's campaign, it wasn't long before I was made captain. I guess in way, Shara is the reason I'm where I am at today."

Shepard nodded, "so that's what you meant about owing her."

Kaban nodded back.

"Mr. Jeel, did you notice anything different in Shara's behavior the last couple of weeks?"

"You know," Kaban replied, "now that you mention it, lately she had been seeming preoccupied. I was supposed to be part of promotion that she and the team were putting together with Starfire but it fell through."

"Yeah we heard about that. We also know that it fell through because Shara missed the meeting that would have closed the deal. Did you ever talk to her about why she missed it?"

Though Shepard already knew the broad reason why Shara missed the meeting, it was still worth asking Kaban about it. Maybe the somewhat closer connection he had with Shara would have made her trust him with the specifics. Then again, Shara had been extremely secretive to her boyfriend and best friend. Still, Shepard knew it was best to check every possibility.

Kaban shrugged, "I tried. A few days after the deal fell through, I ran into her and asked what had happened. She wouldn't answer me. But it wasn't her reluctance to answer my question that bothered me. If it wasn't my business to know why she missed the meeting, then I would have respected her privacy. What bothered me was that she became anxious when I asked her. Almost paranoid, really. Like we were talking about something sensitive and that she was afraid that someone might be listening to our conversation."

With everything Shepard had learned so far about the case, Shara had every reason to be paranoid. Even he was starting to feel a little nervous himself. And that was not something that happened often. Kaban was asking Shara a simple question that she could have given a simple response with out going into details. Instead she was scared to the point she was afraid to even talk to anybody about anything to ensure she didn't slip up in case someone was listening. It also told Shepard that Shara was aware from the beginning that the secret she learned would get her killed if the wrong people found out she knew it. There was no other reason for her to be so scared of a secret.

Not wanting Kaban to pick up on what he was thinking about, Shepard thanked him for answering his questions and said he would contact him if he had anymore questions later. He then headed for the stairwell. His talk with Kaban didn't go too long so he felt he shouldn't have missed much from the meeting with Wilkinson. He found the conference room and carefully peaked through a window. If Wilkinson was answering a question, it was best for Shepard to wait until he was done talking before entering. Inside he could see Garrus sitting on one side of a long table that almost took up the whole room. Vala and the man Shepard recognized as Wilkinson were sitting on the opposite side of the table. To Shepard's surprise however, nobody seemed to be talking. He waited a second longer to be sure no one was about to speak, but no one did. Something wasn't right. With no other choice, Shepard opened the door and entered the conference room. He then found himself the focus of glares from Wilkinson and Vala. Looking to Garrus for an explanation, Garrus only shrugged as if he was just as confused by what was happening.

"I told them that we could start without you," he said, "but they insisted on waiting."

"What did Mr. Jeel say?" Vala asked.

"I…I'm sorry?" Shepard replied.

"Before we proceed, you need to tell us what Mr. Jeel told you."

As much as Shepard was wanting to give Vala an earful for her continued interference in his and Garrus' investigation, he restrained himself from doing so. She would have deserved it if everything she was doing was her choice. But it could easily be that she was following Wilkinson's instructions. Meaning he should be the receiver of Shepard's anger. Unless Shepard knew who he should be angry with, he had to keep himself restrained or else he'd risk upsetting the wrong person and he didn't want that. Instead he placed his hands on the table and looked at both Vala and Wilkinson.

"Ms. Isali," he said with a soft but tense tone, "I think my partner and I need to clear something up right now. We don't need to tell you two anything. We are asking the questions here. You said that we were going to have the organization's complete support but so far all the organization seems to be doing is trying to tell us how to conduct our investigation. A woman was murdered and we are trying to bring her killer to justice. So you both are going to stop telling us what to do and start answering our questions right now."

Vala was ready to unleash an angry comeback but was stopped by Wilkinson holding up his hand, "the detective is right Vala. They have a job to do and we should be helping them instead of hindering them. My apologies Detectives. What is it that you want to know?"

Garrus took the lead while Shepard sat down next to him, "as we said yesterday, we believe Ms. Shara'Vael may have been killed because of something related to her job. We're trying to figure out what that was."

Wilkinson thought quietly for a second before shaking his head, "I can't say I know what that would be either. She did phenomenal work for us. Everyone loved her ideas. If it wasn't for her promotions, we probably wouldn't have as many fans in the stands as we've been having. And as far as I know, I haven't heard anything from our human resources department to indicate that she was having a problem with anyone in the organization."

"Honestly Detectives," Vala said, "the failed Starfire promotion is the only work related thing that might have lead to her death but you've already ruled that out. Maybe her personal life might…"

"Mr. Wilkinson," Shepard interrupted, "we do know that before she died, Shara learned something troubling about the Peacekeepers."

Vala sat up straight, "what? What did she learn?"

"At the moment, we don't know. We don't even know if it involves the entire organization or certain people. Our working theory though is that whatever it was, someone killed Ms. Shara'Vael to keep her quiet. Now Mr. Wilkinson, I want to reiterate to you what we told Ms. Isali yesterday. My partner and I are not here to cause scandal or controversy for your organization. As long as the secret doesn't involve anything illegal, it doesn't matter to us what it was. So we're going to ask you this only once, Mr. Wilkinson? Do you have any idea what the secret could be?"

"Lyle you don't have to answer that," Vala said.

"Vala please," Wilkinson said, "it's alright. Detectives, you promise that what I'm about to say will never become public."

"Like my partner said," Garrus replied, "as long as it doesn't concern anything illegal, you have our word that the secret won't go beyond the two of us."

Wilkinson stood up from his chair and turned to face the wall, "very well. The truth is that there was another promotion of Shara's that failed. She had this idea for us to have clowns walking around the stadium doing magic tricks and making ballon animals for the kids. It was just another way for us to encourage the family-friendly environment we want the Citadome to be. For several weeks, it looked like Shara had another success. But then, the reports started coming in."

"What reports?" Shepard asked.

"It's…"Wilkinson struggled to say, "it's too awful for me to say out loud. Suffice it to say, that one of the clowns was getting kids alone with him…and…and…."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm guessing a lot of you out there have a good idea what Wilkinson is trying to say. Believe me, I wish the story didn't need to go in this direction but, similar to the scene with Talitha, it will have an impact on a sub-plot. Rest assured though, this plot line will be over by the end of the next chapter and there will be no explicit details. Both because I don't want to have to change this story's rating from "T" to "M" and because I would never allow my mind to come up with those kind of details. But I would feel irresponsible if I didn't apologize in advance to those of you who will find this kind of content disturbing. My apologies.


	10. Chapter 10

Shepard and Garrus were horrified when Wilkinson was finally able to finish his story about what a clown by the name of Robert Napier did when he was alone with the kids. They wanted to ask Wilkinson to repeat what he said to be sure they heard correctly. But they didn't. Not just because it would be hard for Wilkinson so say it again but because they also didn't want to hear it said out loud again.

"My god," said Shepard, "I just…that's awful. No kid should ever go through something like that."

"Wait a minute," Garrus said, "I don't recall seeing any C-SEC records of a pedophile being arrested here. Let alone one that was a clown. That would have been the talk of HQ if something like that happened."

Wilkinson nodded, "that's because we handled it in house. If word were to get out about what Mr. Napier did to those kids, our reputation would be ruined. We provided financial compensation for the victims and terminated Mr. Napier's employment with this organization. By all accounts, it was like the incident never happened."

"But it DID happen Mr. Wilkinson," Garrus growled, "you should have reported that clown to C-SEC. Even if he had managed to avoid going to prison, he would have been added to C-SEC's sex offender registry. Instead you let him go free and there is nothing preventing him from being able to get another job working with children."

"Detective Vakarian," said Vala, "Mr. Wilkinson already explained why we couldn't do that. The Peacekeepers are struggling to stay afloat as it is. A scandal like that would have pushed the organization beyond recovery. His decision saved the Peacekeepers."

Garrus banged his hand on the table, "and it put other children in danger because that clown is free to do it all over again."

"Calm down Garrus," Shepard said, "Mr. Wilkinson, there's something we need clarified. When did all of this happen?"

"About six months ago," Mr. Wilkinson replied.

Shepard rubbed his chin as he struggled to put the pieces together. Shara was the one who came up with the ideas to use clowns for a promotion. As a result, she would have kept a close eye on things to make sure they were running smoothly. She would have received the same reports that Wilkinson did about what happened to the kids. It wouldn't have been a stretch for her to find out that Wilkinson covered up the incident and let the clown go.

But the timeline was all wrong. Shara's strange behavior only stared a few weeks ago. If the incident with the clown happened six months ago, why would it have taken her so long to learn about the cover up. Not possible, Shepard thought. There was no way Shara wouldn't have uncovered what happened with the clown sooner. The secret she uncovered a few weeks ago had to have been regarding something else. Or maybe it didn't. As much as Shepard didn't want it to be the case, he was afraid that there may have been more the story.

"And has anything else regarding this matter happened since then?" He asked.

Yet again Vala tried to keep Wilkinson from talking further but he waved her off, "I'm afraid there has. The incident aside, the clowns were still a hit with fans and we've kept the promotion going. A few weeks ago, one of the other clowns had to undergo surgery and is now on disability. We needed a replacement fast. So…without Shara's knowledge….I asked for Mr. Napier to come back to work for us."

"WHAT!" Both Shepard and Garrus shouted.

"Detectives please," Vala shushed as if she was afraid someone might be outside the conference room listening to them, "I realize how this sounds but I can assure you that Mr. Napier hasn't any incidents since returning to work."

"You mean he hasn't had any incidents THAT YOU KNOW OF!" Garrus growled. "It could be that he has since learned how to hide his crimes better. Is he scheduled to work the game today?"

Vala nodded, "as a matter of fact he is but…"

Garrus got up from the table and headed for the door, "come on Shepard. We should call for backup. There's no telling what that clown will do when we try to bring him in."

"Now just a minute Detective Vakarian!" Vala called out, "you don't have a case against Mr. Napier."

Shepard angrily looked at Vala, "what are you talking about? Your boss just told us about what he did to those kids six months ago."

"Maybe so. But unless one of the victims comes forward to press charges against him, you technically can't prove a crime has been committed. Nor can you prove that he's guilty of committing a crime since coming back to the Peacekeepers."

"Listen here Ms. Isali…" Shepard started to say.

"Wait a minute Shepard," Garrus interrupted, "Mr. Wilkinson said that he didn't tell Ms. Shara'Vael about bringing that clown back to work for the Peacekeepers. That could have been the secret that she uncovered. The clown could have out she knew and killed her to keep her from exposing him. I'd say that's motive and more than enough for us to consider a him a person of interest for our investigation."

Wilkinson nodded, "you do have a point Detective."

"But Lyle…!" Vala protested.

"Vala! If what the detectives believe is true, then that means I'm partially responsible for Shara's death since I made the decision to allow Mr. Napier to return to this organization. I overlooked Mr. Napier's actions once, I won't do it again. Detectives, I won't stop you from doing what you need to do. Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

Garrus checked the time on his omni-tool. The stadium was going to be letting fans in for the game any minute. All the extra bodies would be more innocents in the line of fire if something went wrong while arresting Napier. The ideal strategy would be to isolate him. Wilkinson's offer gave him an idea for how to do that.

"Actually," he said to Wilkinson, "there just might be something you can do for us."

* * *

(WHISTLE)

The biotiball game was officially underway. From his position in the stands, Shepard had a perfect view of the action. Except the action he was watching was not on the field. His face was looking towards the field but his eyes were focusing on something in his peripheral vision. One section to his left, Robert Napier was walking up the rows. It was not hard for Shepard to pick him out among the crowd. Wearing a red afro wig, bright yellow shirt and green suspenders that were several sizes too wide, Napier looked like a walking traffic light. Even with such a loud costume, a couple more steps up the rows and Napier would be out of Shepard's view. Fortunately the plan accounted for that.

Once the backup Garrus had requested arrived, each officer changed out of their uniform and into some spare Citadome security uniforms. They were then spread out in strategic locations around the stadium. No matter where Napier was in the stadium, one set of eyes would always be on him. This would allow Shepard, the only officer who would be mobile to change positions without alerting Napier or losing sight of him. At any moment, Wilkinson would be calling Napier to come to his office. Garrus was with Wilkinson and would be there to arrest Napier as soon as he entered. Until that happened, Shepard and the backup units would be watching Napier to ensure he was never alone with any kids.

"Target's on the move," Shepard said into his comm., "he should be coming into your view T'Parro."

"Copy that," T'Parro's voice replied, "wow! You weren't kidding about his costume being loud, Detective. And…alright, you're clear to change position."

Shepard got up from his seat in the stands and walked up the rows. Once he reached the top row, he quickly reacquired Napier. The clown was presently walking along the concourse towards one of the concession stands. It must have been time for him to take a snack break. Shepard stepped into a line at a merchandise stand to blend in. Hopefully Napier would move on before Shepard reached the front of the line and had to buy something.

"We should just take this sicko down now. I can hit him from here."

It was hard for Shepard not to flinch when he heard the new voice on his comm. As great as it was to be working with T'Parro again, it unfortunately meant that Jorin would be around too. As T'Parro's partner, they were a package deal, which meant they couldn't have one without the other. Still Shepard knew having Jorin involved in this operation was going to complicate things. Based on Jorin's transmission, it was looking like he was right.

"Negative," Shepard replied calmly so as not to alarm anyone, "we've been over this. We need to isolate the target. Otherwise we're risking innocent lives."

"We're risking the safety of innocent kids every second he's walking around free," said Jorin, "let me take the shot. I can make it without any civilians getting hurt."

"Jorin!" T'Parro scolded over the comm. "You promised me that you would not go rogue again and obey the detectives' instructions to the letter. That's the only reason I agreed to reposed to their backup request. Now cut the chatter and don't make any moves unless ordered to."

There wasn't any response from Jorin but Shepard took the silence to mean that T'Parro had gotten him back in line. At least, he was hoping that was the case. His focus needed to be on Napier and he couldn't afford to babysit Jorin at the same time. A quick glance confirmed that Napier was still at the concession stand. Thankfully Shepard hadn't missed anything during the brief interruption by Jorin. He was about to check to see if he was at the front of his own line but something else caught his eye and made him tense up.

Napier had stopped looking at the concession stand and was focus on a small turian boy who seemed to be lost. Shepard glanced around but he didn't see any adults who appeared to be looking for anyone, let alone a child. It became apparent that Napier came to the same realization because he was smiling. And it was not a silly smile a person would expect a clown to have. Instead it was the sinister smile of a predator who had spotted potential prey. Not caring about losing his spot in line, Napier started walking towards the child.

The initial instinct from Shepard was to run towards the child to prevent Napier from reaching him. To do that though would result in his cover being blown and the plan to arrest Napier peacefully falling apart into chaos. But there was no way he could allow Napier to take the child away. What was taking Wilkinson so long to call Napier to his office? There was only one play left for Shepard to make.

"T'Parro," he said on his comm., "target is about to approach a child. Can you intercept?"

"On it," T'Parro replied.

Though Shepard didn't see T'Parro, he knew she was close by. He unknowingly held his breath as he watched Napier get closer to the child. Just when Napier was about to speak to the child, T'Parro appeared and stood between the two of them. Shepard let out a relieved sigh and smiled as T'Parro knelt down and offered to help the child find his parents. Napier was a bit surprised by T'Parro's sudden appearance but thankfully he didn't question it. If he had, he might have realized that T'Parro was not really a security guard. Instead he just casually walked away and tried to get his spot back in the concession line. While he knew T'Parro couldn't answer back, Shepard congratulated her for handling the situation.

Before Napier could get in the concession line again, his omni-tool lit up and made a beeping sound Shepard was barely able to hear from his position. Shepard's smile grew wider. Napier was getting to the summons to Wilkinson's office. With the big boss requesting his presence, he wouldn't risk being distracted by anymore kids. It was looking like the plan was going to run smoothly from here on out…or it did until Jorin's voice came over the comm. again.

"That was too close Shepard," he scolded, "we need to put the clown down now before he gets anymore sick ideas."

"Negative," Shepard replied, "target is on his way to the owner's office right now. Just stick to the plan and Detective Vakarian will have the target in custody without incident."

"Come on, Shepard! Jail is too good a place for this animal!"

"It's DETECTIVE Shepard to you, officer! Stand down! That's an order!"

"If you were a real Detective, you'd know that I'm right! If you're not going to do what needs to be done, I will and then everyone will realize that I should have been made detective instead of you. I'm taking the shot!"

Shepard urgently scanned the faces of the crowd in an attempt to find Jorin. The plan was falling apart and he needed to do something to try and salvage it. He had already tried one thing that he never enjoyed doing even in the military, pulling rank. That proved ineffective however. It was clear that Jorin was still bitter over Shepard becoming a homicide detective and Garrus' partner instead of him. If Jorin wasn't going to respect Shepard's authority then nothing Shepard could say would change Jorin's mind. With words not being a viable option, Shepard was going to need to take action to prevent Jorin from killing Napier.

Stepping out from the line he was hiding in, Shepard slowly approached Napier from behind. The original plan was not to tip Napier off that C-SEC was making a move on him but Shepard was going to have to throw that plan out the window. He was about to tap Napier on the shoulder when he heard some gasps coming from the crowd in front of him. There he saw Jorin pushing people aside as he raised his sidearm and pointed it at Napier.

"GUN!" Shepard shouted as he dove towards Napier.

(BANG!)

Shepard was barely able to tackle Napier down to the ground before Jorin fired his weapon. The bullet flew over the two of them and traveled uninterrupted until it hit the back wall of the concession stand Napier came from. It was a miracle that no civilians were harmed by the shot. But now that Jorin's shot had caused to the crowds to panic and scatter, the next shot likely would. Napier needed to get put in handcuffs fast. Once Napier was secure, Jorin would not be able to justify shooting him. Shepard pulled out his handcuffs only to realize that Napier was not underneath him.

Somehow Shepard had rolled off of Napier during their tumble. Napier had gotten back on has feet and was now using the chaos of the crowd to flee. Thankfully Shepard was able to spot him before he could get far. Jumping to his feet, Shepard sprinted after him. While running, he radioed Garrus to inform him that the operation was compromised and that Napier was on the run. To his surprise, Garrus didn't acknowledge his transmission. He was going to have to figure the comm. issue later because he needed to focus on chasing Napier. He shouted at the people in front of him telling them to clear the way. A few obliged but Shepard still bumped into the people that didn't which resulted in his progress being hampered. At the rate he was being slowed by the crowd, he was going to lose Napier.

Suddenly Napier made a sharp turn and ran down an aisle between seating sections and towards the biotiball field. Shepard struggled to figure out what Napier was thinking. Eventually the steps would end and he would have no choice but to walk through the packed front row seats. Stepping over all the fans would slow him down to a crawl. It was when Shepard realized Napier was not slowing down as he approached the bottom of the steps that it came together. Napier was going to hop onto the field. Thanks to the chaos caused by Jorin's shot, the game had been halted meaning Napier could cross the field without having to run through an active biotiball game. What Napier didn't know was that Shepard had a way to ensure that he couldn't hop into the stands on the other side.

"All units!" He shouted into his comm. while hopping onto the biotiball field. "Target is on the field! Converge on the field and cut him off!"

Several voices responded to acknowledge Shepard's orders. At least the comm. still allowed Shepard to talk to everyone else. So why wasn't he hearing anything from Garrus? Surely by now Garrus had to be wondering what was happening. With players and referee's watching him, Shepard chased Napier to the other side of the field. Napier looked ready to hop back into the stands but suddenly stopped running. Looking ahead, Shepard saw his backup coming down the steps to intercept Napier. The time Napier was stopped trying to figure out where to go which allowed Shepard to close the gap between them significantly. It looked like Napier was trapped and had nowhere to run. Some of the officers were already chatting on the comm. saying that the chase was over. Instead of agreeing with them however, Shepard was beginning to feel dread. He knew that an animal was the most dangerous when they were cornered. And sure enough, he was proven right in a terrible way.

Napier climbed the wall like he was going to jump back in the stands. Before he climbed over the railing however, he stopped and grabbed hold of an asari child in the front row. The parents and the closest C-SEC officer were unable to stop Napier from pulling the child back down onto the field with him. When both of them were back on the ground, Napier ran with the child tucked under his arm toward the tunnel used by the players to enter the field. Shortly after entering the tunnel, Napier and the child vanished in the shadows.

The situation's unexpected rise in urgency caused all the officers who thought the chase was over to start yelling confused orders over the comm. Even with the chaos going on around him, the only sound Shepard heard was the child's screams echoing in the tunnel. He was already feeling a little tired from the chase but the screams gave him an energy boost and he ran as fast as he could after Napier. He kept up the pace even when a voice that he had been waiting to hear from since the chase began came over his comm.

"EVERYONE CUT THE CHATTER!" Garrus yelled causing all voice on the comm. to silence. "Detective Shepard what the hell is going on?!"

"Target is on the run!" Shepard replied. "And he has a hostage!"

"WHAT?!"

"No time to explain! He ran down the tunnel! I'm in pursuit!

"(sigh) Alright, stay on him!"

Garrus then proceeded to coordinate with the other officers to block off any exit Napier might be heading for. Shepard was tempted to mute his comm. so he could focus but he knew that he might miss some vital information if Garrus needed to contact him. Instead he mentally tuned out the comm. noise and listened for any noises that would indicate where Napier had run off too. In the midst of his conversation with Garrus, the child's screams had stopped causing Shepard to become anxious. He was hoping that Napier was simply covering the child's mouth and that was why the screaming stopped. The other explanation was one he didn't want to think about.

(CRASH!)

Shepard had come to an intersection when he heard the sound of something metallic being knocked over coming from the path to his left. Perfect, he thought. If Napier kept making noises like that, there was no way he could lose him. Shepard ran towards the source of the noise but stopped when he noticed a map on the wall. He almost disregarded it fearing that stopping to look at it would widen the distance between him and Napier but something he saw made him realize he had plenty of time to spare.

The hallway he was walking through would take him past two doors on the right side that lead into the Peacekeepers' locker room. Napier could hide in there but there he would have to eventually come back out into the hall as the three doors were the only way to go in and out. Beyond the locker room was an elevator that took the players up to the team parking garage. Only players and security could operate the elevator. Napier had unintentionally walked himself into a dead end.

Quietly Shepard pulled out his sidearm and hugged the wall. He slowly walked towards the closest of the locker room's doorframes. The door was opened allowing him to peek inside. From what he could see, there was no sign of Napier nor were there are decent places for him to hide behind on the far side of the room. Napier was likely just inside the door Shepard was approaching. This gave Shepard an idea.

When Shepard was right at the doorframe, he heard what sounded like a muffled cry. It gave him a brief sense of relief since the sound meant the child was still alive. Napier must have had her mouth covered to make it harder for Shepard to hear her. If it hadn't been for the crash Shepard heard, he would have not have known he came this way. Now that he had found Napier, it was time for Shepard to carry out his plan.

"Robert Napier!" He called from the hallway. "C-SEC! There's nowhere for you to run! Let the child go and come out with your hands in the air!"

Just when Shepard had finished speaking, he saw Napier running for one of the other doors. Napier was doing exactly what Shepard expected him to do. By heading for one of the other doors, Napier was planning to hide and then slip out when Shepard entered the locker room. His hope was that by going out when Shepard was coming in, Shepard would just miss seeing him and then run away while Shepard was searching the room. So Napier was surprised when Shepard entered the room early and ordered him to freeze before he made it to the door. But Napier was nowhere near as surprised (or rather horrified) as Shepard was when he saw Napier.

Napier was holding the child in his left arm close to his chest to serve as a shield. His right hand was held over the child's mouth to keep her quiet. Shepard could see in the child's eyes that she had been crying for awhile. What really horrified Shepard however was that Napier was no longer wearing his pants. He quickly glanced around the room and noticed the pants lying behind a row of lockers and near a metal bin that was lying on the ground. That was likely the source of the crash he heard but Shepard didn't care about that. He was more concerned with the implication of Napier's pants not being on.

"I knew there was no chance of me getting out of here alive," Napier said answering the question Shepard was afraid to ask, "so I figured I'd have one last hurrah."

Knowing full well what Napier meant by "one last hurrah", Shepard's breathing got heavier as his anger grew. He raised his weapon and aimed it as best as he could at Napier's head. If Napier gave him and opening and forced his hand, Shepard would be ready to take him out. But only IF that happened. Besides not wanting to accidentally hit the child, Shepard didn't want to kill Napier because his paragon nature kept him from being willing to kill a person unless it was in self-defense or because the person threatened another person's life.

"You're sick Robert," Shepard said trying to keep his anger from showing in his voice, "you need help."

"Help?!" Said Napier. "You call trying to shoot me help?!"

"I'm really sorry that happened. The officer went rogue. I told him my partner and I wanted you alive. We just wanted to talk to you about the recent murder of Shara'Vael vas Moreh."

A surprised look appeared on Napier face and his grip on the child loosened, "what? Why would you want to talk to me about that? I had nothing to do with what happened to her."

"We know about why you were let go from the Peacekeepers six months ago. We also know that a few weeks ago you were brought back to replace a clown who was on disability. Our working theory right now is that Shara found out and you killed her to keep her from going public with what she knew."

This time Napier's mouth dropped open in shock. He also nearly dropped the child but managed to catch her and held her under his arm at his side. His body was no longer shielded but he didn't seem to care. All he seemed to be able to focus on was trying to make sense of what Shepard said. Shepard was becoming confused as well. What did he say that wasn't making sense to Napier?

"What the hell are you talking about?" Napier finally said, "this is only my first day back since I was let go."

"What do you mean?" A stun Shepard asked.

"Yesterday Mr. Wilkinson called me out of the blue and said he desperately needed a substitute clown. He said it wouldn't be a permeant return and was just going to be for the day. I wanted to tell him to shove his offer but I needed the money."

Several thoughts ran through Shepard's mind. If Napier was telling the truth, then he wasn't working for the Peacekeeper's when Shara uncovered the big secret. He wasn't even working for the Peacekeeper's when Shara was murdered. Shepard realized that there was no way Napier could be the murder with those facts in mind because they took away his motive. So why would Wilkinson lie and say that Napier had been back with the Peacekeepers longer than he actually had? Then Shepard took into account Napier's comment saying that Wilkinson had called him out of the blue yesterday and everything came together.

"Son of a bitch," he said under his breath.

(BANG!)

A gunshot snapped out of his thoughts and he looked up in time to see Napier drop the child and fall forward. When he hit the ground, Shepard saw a bullet wound on the back of his head. With her mouth unobstructed, the child was able to cry loudly again. Instinctively Shepard picked up the child and held her close to his chest to obstruct her view of the body. He patted her on the back and quietly reassured her that everything was okay and that she was safe. He then looked up and saw where the shot had come from. Standing in the far doorway was Jorin holding his smoking sidearm. With an expression Shepard could only guess was the turian equivalent of smugness, Jorin holstered his weapon.

"That is how a REAL detective gets the job done."


	11. Chapter 11

"WHAT?!" Shepard and Garrus gasped as they jumped out of the visitors chairs in Bailey's office.

Bailey held up his hands in what he knew was a fruitless attempt to calm the two detectives down, "I know. Believe me I'm just as outraged as you are but what can we do? This comes straight from the executor."

The fallout from Jorin's shooting of Napier continued to get worse. Strangely enough though, it was only getting worse for Shepard and Garrus. Jorin on the other hand was riding high. It started when Jorin went on the comm. to announce that he single-handedly killed the target and saved the child. If that wasn't bad enough, he further stated that he did all that while Detective Shepard stood around and did nothing. Shepard would have stopped him but he was too preoccupied with what he considered to be more important: comforting the child who was still in shock over her ordeal. Unfortunately Jorin's version of the events quickly spread. When Shepard and Jorin returned the child to her parents, the parents couldn't stop thanking Jorin and giving Shepard a nasty look. That would have been bad enough but then Jorin told the parents he was sorry their daughter had to go through such an ordeal because Detective Shepard wanted to keep the pedophile alive even if it meant risking kids lives. The parents practically yanked the child out of Shepard's arms and stormed off before Shepard had a chance to explain. As Jorin headed off to receive congratulations from the other officers, Shepard searched for Garrus. The two of them needed to get back to HQ and tell Bailey what really happened.

When they arrived, it ended up being Bailey who did the talking. He had received a less than pleasant call from the executor. Apparently the executor was buying everything Jorin was saying about what happened at the Citadome. In a few minutes, he was going to announce to the press that "brave C-SEC officer Jorin Kadarus" not only saved a young girl from a pedophile but he brought the murderer of Shara'Vael vas Moreh to justice. That caused the first stunned reaction from Shepard and Garrus though they weren't stunned enough to jump out of their chairs at that time. Then Bailey told them the executor also felt that the events at the Citadome proved that Jorin should have gotten the promotion to the homicide desk. On top of that, because the executor believed what Jorin said about how Shepard was responsible for the operation falling apart, he ordered Bailey to take Shepard off homicide so that Jorin could take his spot. It was then that Shepard and Garrus jumped out of their chairs.

"With all due respect sir," Garrus said as he leaned on Bailey's desk, "the executor is out of his mind! Kadarus is the one who ruined the operation. Shepard told me how the operation was going smoothly until Kadarus decided to go rogue and kill Napier in cold blood."

"Unfortunately that's were the problem is," Bailey replied, "according to your own statement, you didn't hear the alleged conversation where Kadarus went rogue on your comms. In fact you didn't hear anything until after all hell had broken loose. You're relying solely on Shepard's word that his version of the events happened."

Garrus threw his arms up in frustration and stepped away from the desk, "spirts, Shepard. I thought we were past the point of having people doubt stuff you say."

"Commander," said Shepard, "what about the T'Parro or any of the other officers who were there? Surely they were able to hear Kadarus go rogue."

Bailey shrugged his shoulders, "you would think. But with the exception of T'Parro, no one is willing to say that they did. They're obviously afraid to contradict Kadarus' story and risk angering the executor. As for T'Parro, she's filed many complaints against Kadarus in the past which the executor would always sweep under the rug. He believes that T'Parro is now resorting to lying in an attempt to finally get him canned."

Shepard rolled his eyes, "gentleman I give you nepotism at it's finest. I honestly can't help but wonder how a reckless idiot like Kadarus managed to win the heart of the executor's daughter."

Garrus nodded in agreement, "personally I wonder if the executor's daughter is aware that her father is keeping her husband from getting canned on a regular basis. Or worse, for all we know she could be manipulating her father. She might be using her influence on him to not only keep Kadarus on the force but also pushing him to get Kadarus on the homicide desk."

"If I were a betting man," said Bailey, "I'd put my money on your theory Vakarian. But without proof, going after the executor would be suicide."

"But we have to do something Commander," Shepard said while pacing back and forth, "the executor may be telling the press otherwise but the three of us know that Shara's killer is still out there."

Garrus continued, "we also know that Wilkinson is somehow involved because he lied to us about how long Napier had been back working at the Citadome. Shepard and I even believe that he planned to put us on Napier's trail yesterday when he agreed to our interview request. In hindsight, he did stop Vala from shooting our request down a little too quickly. He's hiding something and we need to bring him here to find out what that is."

The painful hiss that came out of Bailey's mouth told the detectives that Garrus' idea was not going to be that easy to do, "when I was on the phone with the executor, he told me about a call that he had received from that lawyer you mentioned. It started off pleasant enough with her congratulating Kadarus on behalf of the Peacekeepers for taking down Shara's killer. Things turned sour though when she said that she and Wilkinson were not happy that the plan you two came up with to capture Napier went to hell. Even if the case wasn't being considered closed, the Peacekeepers refuse to cooperate with you two anymore and the lawyer says she will personally file harassment charges if either of you show up at the Citadome again."

Shepard and Garrus faces fell. In some ways they shouldn't have been surprised by Bailey's last bit of news. If it was Wilkinson's plan all along to pin Shara's murder on Napier, then any further questioning by C-SEC would seem excessive to everyone who believed the case was closed. What made their faces fall was the threat of a lawsuit because it closed their only active lead in the investigation. If they couldn't think of something, the entire Citadel would believe Napier killed Shara and the real killer would go free.

As bad as that thought was, it was more troubling thinking that Shara's murder was potentially going to be Shepard and Garrus' only case as partners. Jorin was getting glory for supposedly closing their case for them and for cleaning up the mess Shepard was believed to have made. There was no way Bailey would be able to fight the executor's order to partner Jorin with Garrus this time. Bailey seemed to read their minds and gave them the only reassuring news he had.

"Look detectives," he said, "I realize things seem hopeless but we can't give up. Shara deserves justice and she won't be able to get it if everyone believes her killer has already been caught. The executor may want to get Kadarus transferred to homicide ASAP but I can jam up the process to buy you two some time to keep investigating. Find Shara's killer. If we're lucky, that will be enough to show the executor he's making a mistake. But remember, we're doing this for Shara first and foremost.

Shepard and Garrus nodded and saluted Bailey before turning to walk out of the office. It wasn't necessary for them to salute but it was the least they could do to thank him for continuing to back them and for the pep talk. They made their way to their desks to take one last look at the murder board before heading home. Though they wanted to stay and keep working, their shift was over and they were both exhausted from the day's events. If they were going to have only one more day to solve the case, they needed to go home and sleep so that they would be fully energized and ready to work.

When Shepard and Garrus got to their desks, their attention was not immediately drawn to the murder board but to Shepard's desk. The desk had been disturbed and Shepard's breathing got heavy with frustration when he saw what was different. Someone had removed his nameplate and replaced it with one that read "Detective Jorin Kadarus". Those words have no business being together, Shepard thought to himself. Upon closer examination, Shepard found his own nameplate inside a box that was on his desk. There was nothing else inside the box but Shepard was more troubled by the fact he didn't remember leaving a box on his desk. Only one thing could explain the appearance of the box. Fortunately for Shepard, Garrus realized it the same time he did and grabbed the box before Shepard became tempted to throw it across the bullpen. While he took out Shepard's nameplate and put it back on the desk, he glanced up towards Bailey's office. He was met with a return glance from Bailey who nodded to indicate he understood what Garrus was silently asking him.

"Don't let this get to you Shepard," said Garrus, "Bailey will keep his word and make sure that your desk is still here when we come in tomorrow."

Shepard sighed, "I know. Let's just get out of here."

"Have you thought about what you're going to say to Ashley?"

"Honestly I wish I didn't have to tell her anything. She's got enough on her plate between finishing her book and having a baby. I'd hate to add to it by telling her my job is at risk. But I have to tell her. Not just because of what happened last night but because she's my wife and she deserves to know."

"I understand. It's just like I'm going to have to tell Tali. I don't know what she's going to take the hardest, the fact you might not be partner for much longer or the fact that Jorin will be your replacement."

Shepard couldn't help but smile, "she's familiar with your 'adventures' with Jorin?"

"Well enough that I think she'll tell me I should quit C-SEC again to avoid being partners with him."

"All the more reason why we need to solve this case," Shepard replied while giving Garrus a comforting pat on the back, "I'm not going to let C-SEC lose their best officer a third time."

Garrus chuckled as he and Shepard left the bullpen. The happy mood didn't last long. When they reached the buildings main entrance, they stopped when they noticed camera flashes on the other side. Moving to the side of the doorway to keep themselves out of the cameras' line of sight, they carefully approached the door to find out what was going on. It was the sound of several voices shouting questions that solved the mystery for them. To confirm their theory, the voices quieted down when a voice they recognized as the executor's started speaking.

"I've called this press conference to recognize one of C-SEC's finest who, in one fell swoop, made this station safer for our children and closed a murder investigation. Officer Jorin Kadarus was part of an operation to bring in suspected murderer Robert Napier. Napier, a children's entertainer, was revealed to be a pedophile who used his job to gain access to children to whom he would do things so heinous I cannot bring myself to say them out loud. It is believed that he murdered someone who found out about his crimes and was about to expose him. The operation was going smoothly until bad judgment calls by the officer in charge of the operation resulted in the Napier taking a child hostage. It was only thanks to the quick action of Officer Kadarus that the child was not killed…or worse. With that said, I invite you to join me in congratulating this brave officer for his heroic deeds."

The executor and the press erupted into applause as Jorin stepped in front of the cameras and gave an over-exaggerated bow of gratitude. Both Shepard and Garrus looked at the scene with disgust. It was bad enough that Jorin was getting praise that he didn't deserve but they were mad that the executor didn't even mention Shara by name. They both believed that the victim of a murder was the one who deserved to be remembered and honored. Sure the officer who cracked the case would be entitled to receive some recognition but ultimately they were just doing their job. Least of all though it was the killer who didn't deserve a mention. The last thing a killer deserved for committing a crime was to have their actions be glorified in the was why Shepard and Garrus were determined to ensure that Shara's real killer would find himself locked away, never to be seen or heard from again.

* * *

Shepard entered his apartment and collapsed onto the living room couch he found Ashley in when he came home the previous night. He didn't even have the energy to call out to Ashley to let him know he was home. With luck, she was working in her office and wouldn't come out to see him in his exhausted state for a few more minutes. This would give Shepard time to rest his eyes until he had enough energy to go in the office and greet Ashley properly.

"YES!"

A surge of adrenaline came over Shepard when he heard Ashley shouting from her office. After the initial worry that the sound meant something was wrong with either Ashley or the baby, Shepard realized what he heard was an excited cheer. Curious to what all the excitement was about, he shot out of the couch and ran towards Ashley's office door. Not wanting to startle her by bursting in, he knocked on the door before opening it.

Greeting Shepard on the other side of the door was a sight he had not seen for quite some time. Ashley was dancing behind her desk. True her large, pregnant belly made it hard for her to be the most graceful dancer but Shepard was just surprised to see her dancing at all. The later stages of Ashley's pregnancy had left her with little to no energy for activities like that. Whatever was making Ashley happy was causing her to dance with enough energy that Shepard was worried she'd make herself go into labor. While Shepard was curious about what was going on, he couldn't resist leaning against the doorway and watching the show.

Suddenly Ashley realized that Shepard was standing in the doorway and started dancing in his direction. Shepard straightened up in time to receive a kiss from her. Ashley then pulled Shepard into the office and the two of them started waltzing around the desk. For a brief moment, Shepard had forgotten all about the bad day he had. He just wanted this moment to last. Finally his curiosity got the better of him.

"Are we celebrating something?" He asked.

"We certainly are," Ashley replied with a smile, "I just got an email from my agent. One of the Citadel's biggest publishing houses is interested in my book."

"Ash, that's fantastic!" Shepard said before he was hit with a moment of confusion. "Wait a minute, how is that possible? I remember you finished the book shortly after the baby and I helped you decide how to end it and that you had sent it to an editor for proofreading. How can a publisher be interested in your book before your final draft is ready?"

Ashley separated from Shepard and went back to sit at her desk while she spoke, "my agent has been looking for a publisher since I told him the book was almost finished. Apparently they were already interested as soon as he said the book was written by Ashley Shepard, Reaper War veteran and Council Spectre. I'll admit that I was a little worried they were going to publish the book just based on my reputation and not the book's merit. But then he said their interest only grew as he explained what the book was about. Some of the people there want to read it themselves to see what happens. Oh Mark, your wife is on her way to becoming a published author."

Shepard smiled and stepped behind Ashley to plant a kiss on the top of her head, "I'm proud of you, beautiful. You've put a lot of work into that book and it's about to pay off. I love you."

"I love you too. Now are you ready to tell me what's troubling you?"

A sad sigh escaped Shepard's mouth, "how did you know something was wrong?"

"I didn't hear you say 'hey beautiful, I'm home' when you came in. You've always said that when you come home from work. The only reason you would forget to do it would be because something is on your mind."

It was hard for Shepard not to chuckle as he thought to himself that Ashley should have been the detective. Helping Ashley out of her chair and taking her into the living room, Shepard proceeded to give her a thorough play-by-play of the day's events. Ashley may have had mood swings during the pregnancy but even those paled in comparison to how many times her emotions changed during Shepard's story. As Shepard wrapped up, Ashley was feeling horrified by what the child had almost gone through with Napier but then she exploded when Shepard explained how the executor was handling the fallout from it.

"They can't do that to you!" She screamed. "I don't care if that idiot Kadarus is the executor's son-in-law. You're Commander Shepard, the hero of Citadel."

"Correction," Shepard said as he sat down with Ashley on the couch, "I was Commander Shepard. Now I'm a C-SEC homicide detective. My military experience may have helped me get the job but that doesn't matter when it comes to reviewing my performance as a detective."

"Even so, it just burns me up that people still don't take your statements seriously. I mean what you told me happened doesn't sound nearly as outlandish as saying that giant synthetics are coming to destroy all organics. And you were actually right about that."

Shepard wanted to point out that Ashley herself had doubted him once but held his tongue. Ashley had already beaten herself up for it several times over the years and he refused to unintentionally help her do it again.

"And that's why I don't care that they don't believe me," said Shepard, "I'm used to people doubting me on a regular basis by now. Garrus, Bailey and I know that we're right about Shara's killer being still out there. As long as we can prove it before tomorrow is over, I don't have to worry about losing my job."

Ashley appeared to be struggling to understand what Shepard was saying, "so if you don't care what everyone thinks of you and you're not worried about possibly being fired, then what is it that was troubling you when you came home?"

Instead of answering right away, Shepard silently gestured for Ashley to move closer to him so that he could put his arm around her. Ashley obliged and rested her head on his shoulder. Though she didn't show it, Ashley was beginning to dread what Shepard was going to say. Every time the two of them got this intimate during a discussion, it was because Shepard was about share something especially dark and troubling and needed the comfort that came from being close to Ashley.

"Ash," Shepard said once he was ready, "I thought I'd seen the worst this galaxy had to offer. As you mentioned, I've even saved the galaxy from being wiped out by an advanced race of giant synthetics. I also went through losing several of my friends in horrific ways thanks to a mad woman's thirst for revenge against me. And yet, these past couple of days have shown me there are still many terrible things out there. A poor woman was brutally stabbed to death in her own apartment. Another one almost killed herself after she was rescued from being a slave for nearly twenty years. And now, a child was almost violated by a sick clown. What kind of father would I be bringing a child into this galaxy where that much horrible stuff can happen in just a few days and all on the same station?"

"Hate to break it to you honey but it's a bit too late for you to be having second thoughts about that," Ashley said while patting her belly.

It was impossible for Shepard not to chuckle at Ashley's joke. He didn't know if Ashley was trying to ease the tension or if she was buying time to think of something reassuring to say but he didn't care. Laughter truly was the best medicine for him. When he was done chuckling, Ashley continued.

"There's no doubt in my mind that you are going to be a great father. From what you've told me, you proved that today when your first instinct after Kadarus killed the clown was to comfort the child. As for the horrible stuff that happens on this station, to be perfectly honest, that's just another reason why I'm still not thrilled about your job."

"Ash please." Shepard said while rubbing his eyes to brace for what he knew was coming, "I'm not ready to get back to that discussion."

"Mark, your job has you confronting those horrible things everyday. Twice in the past two days you've nearly gotten yourself killed in the process. First you were almost killed last night by that girl you rescued and today your risked your life saving a clown who did horrible things to children. Now I'm not saying he should have been gunned down in cold blood. Everyone has the right to a fair trial. I'm just saying that the frequency of these close calls is going to make it hard for you keep the promise you made last night. Is it really worth keeping this job if that's the case?"

Shepard let go of Ashley and got up from the couch to pace. As much as he hated to admit it, Ashley had a point. He did promise her the previous night that he would do everything in his power to ensure he came home safely every day. Yet the events of the past two days were making it hard for even him to believe that he could keep that promise. Maybe it would be for the best if he took a less dangerous job at C-SEC. A job that would allow him to still help people but not have to risk his life on a regular basis. Then Shepard thought of another promise that both he and Garrus had made.

"I hear what you're saying. But the thing is I made a promise that I was going to find Shara's killer and bring them to justice. Garrus and I now have only one day left to do that. I have to see this case through to the end, Ash. Once it's over, then we'll finish this discussion."

When he had finished speaking, Shepard offered Ashley his hand. Though she didn't initially appear to be happy with Shepard's suggestion, Ashley shrugged when she realized it was the best one that he could offer. She took Shepard's hand and got up from the couch with Shepard's assistance. The two of them then headed for the bedroom to turn in for the night.


	12. Chapter 12

It may have been too much to ask for but Shepard was really hoping that his shift would start off without any reminders of what happened the previous day. Alas that was not to be. After meeting Garrus in the parking lot and walking into HQ together, Shepard noticed he was the focus of every officer they passed. The only upside was that none of them were giving him disapproving or mean glares. Instead everyone was giving him sympathetic looks. This at least proved to Shepard that there wasn't a single officer who believed the executor's press release about what happened at the Citadome. But this didn't earn the officers any respect from Shepard because none of them would challenge the executor on the matter. Only Garrus, Bailey and T'Parro were willing to help him fight for his job and hopefully that would be enough.

The situation didn't improve when they reached the bullpen. While the eyes of the other detectives were not on Shepard, they were instead looking up towards Bailey's office. A loud commotion could be heard coming from there. The door was closed so no one could understand what was being said, or rather shouted. Though Shepard thought it sounded like only one voice making all the noise and it wasn't Bailey's.

Deciding there was no point in wasting time waiting to see who came out of Bailey's office, Shepard and Garrus headed for their desks with the intention of getting to work on the case. When they got there, they found a new box sitting on Shepard's desk but this one was filled with stuff and none of it belonged to Shepard. It then became clear who was in Bailey's office and why they were so angry. Their theory was proven correct when Bailey's office door opened and Kadarus came storming out.

"SHEPARD!" Kadarus shouted. "DO NOT GET COMFORTABLE! That is my desk and I intend to use it as soon as I get things straightened out with the commander!"

"There is nothing to straighten out Kadarus!" Bailey said as he stepped out of his office, "I have not received any orders saying that you've been promoted to my squad and I certainly haven't promoted you. As far as I know, you're still a patrol officer and that desk belongs to Detective Shepard."

"Commander, the executor himself said that he was going to approve my promotion! I'm supposed to start as your new detective and Shepard is supposed to be out of here."

"Kadarus I've had it up to here with your insubordination!" Bailey scolded while holing has hand high above his head, "Detective Shepard is a superior officer and you should be addressing him like one."

"But Commander…!"

"Now for the last time, this matter is closed. Detective Shepard and his partner have work to do. All the other detective in this bullpen have work to do. Hell, I have work to do and I think we'll all be a lot more productive as soon as you get out of here."

Kadarus seemed ready to challenge Bailey but a quick glance around the bullpen convinced him otherwise. Every detective in the bullpen was loyal to Bailey and Kadarus knew that any further protest from him might lead to everyone charging him and tossing him out. He probably wouldn't even get away with throwing one more mean look at Shepard. With no other options, Kadarus stormed towards the exit. He waited until he was standing in the doorway before stopping and turning around.

"Just wait until the executor hears about this!" He shouted and then he walked out of the bullpen.

The other detectives went back to work in an attempt to act like nothing had happened. Shepard and Garrus looked towards Bailey expecting that he was going to summon them to his office. To their surprise, he didn't ask from them to come up. Instead he just made a gesture to that indicated the two of them needed to work quickly. This worried Shepard and Garrus a little bit. Bailey had promised they had the whole day to work the case but maybe Kadarus' threat to go to the executor was going to make it hard to keep his promise. With their window of opportunity threatening to get smaller, Shepard and Garrus practically ran to their desks and the murder board.

A few minutes later, Shepard and Garrus were seated at their desks looking at the newly rearranged and updated murder board. The biggest change they made to the board was putting a picture of Lyle Wilkinson under a line that read "PERSONS OF INTEREST". They were strongly tempted to put it under the "SUSPECTS" line but they chose against it. While there was no doubt in Shepard and Garrus' mind that Wilkinson was involved, they couldn't say for sure if he committed the murder himself or if he had sent someone like Maul, the brutish krogan security chief, do it for him. But how to prove it one way or the other? The answer to that was hidden in the unanswered question that was written and circled on the board: "WHAT WAS THE SECRET?"

"You know what I think," said Shepard, "I'll bet that the secret involves something illegal. Once we find out what it is, we can bring in all the guilty parties. Then we'll negotiate a deal for whichever one identifies Shara's killer."

"This is ridiculous," Garrus said seemingly not hearing Shepard's idea, "the answer to this whole case is at the Citadome. We need to get in there and make someone talk."

"I hear you Garrus but you heard what Bailey said about how Vala will file charges against us if we go near the Citadome."

"Who cares about that?! They can't do anything to us if we violate it! You're a Spectre for crying out loud!"

Shepard gave Garrus a disapproving stare, "Garrus you better not be suggesting what I think you're suggesting."

"I wish I wasn't Shepard but you have to admit that we're running out of options here."

"Forget it Garrus," Shepard said as stood up from his chair, "I'm aware that my Spectre status gives me free rein to carry out missions however I want. But that doesn't mean I should use it whenever I want. We've both met Spectres who've abused that freedom and look what happened to them. And do I need to remind you about what happened when a certain crazy woman thought I abused my power to get away with killing her sister?"

The reference to Dana Thompson caused Garrus' face to fall, "sorry Shepard. You're right. I shouldn't have suggested it."

"It's okay, partner. The point is, I swore to myself that I would only invoke my Spectre status under two conditions. Either because the situation is a matter of life and death or because we've fully exhausted all other options."

Garrus nodded, "well then, since we both don't want you to invoke your status, let's see if there's an option that we've missed."

The two detectives turned their attention back to the board. Ultimately it was a note written under a section marked "EVIDENCE" that the light bulb went off. Shara's terminal. With everything that happened since the incident at the Citadome, they had completely forgotten to check to see if the crime scene techs were finally able to crack the encryption on Shara's terminal. Garrus pulled up his email and, sure enough, there was a new message from the senior technician. In the message, the technician explained they had managed to gain access to Shara's email and attached the most recent incoming and outgoing messages for Shepard and Garrus to look over. Garrus' eyes widened and he frantically gestured for Shepard to join him at his terminal. There was an unfinished draft of a message that Shara was writing the night she was killed. The part that had made Garrus excited was the fact that it was addressed for the biotiball league's commissioner.

"Spirits," he said, "looks like you might be right Shepard about the secret involving something illegal. I can't imagine a biotiball team's head of promotions writing to the head of the entire league for anything less."

Shepard nodded in agreement while he and Garrus continued reading the message.

* * *

Commissioner,

I wish I didn't have to send you this message but what I have to tell you is too important.

My job as the Citadel Peacekeepers' head of promotions is help promote support for the team. It's not an easy task when you consider the team's performance the last few years. But we still manage to draw crowds to the games. Not big crowds but crowds nonetheless. And yet, even though we're not selling out as many games as we'd like, the organization still gives my team a big budget to use for coming up with our promotion ideas. While I'm grateful because we would have never come up with our best ideas without such a generous budget, a part of me couldn't help but wonder how the organization was able to afford to give us so much money. I was concerned that the organization may have been accidentally taking much needed money from other budgets so I took it upon myself to investigate the matter.

Now, I would like to be clear that I'm well aware that some of the actions I took during my investigation may be considered immoral and potentially illegal. However I feel that the end justifies the means. After several nights of staying late at the Citadome and sneaking into offices to look at the books, I've uncovered how the organization has managed to stay afloat despite repeated disappointing seasons. They

* * *

Shepard and Garrus' shoulders slumped when the message abruptly ended. They were so close to finding out the secret but Shara had been interrupted before she could write it down. The killer must have arrived at Shara's home when she got to that point in the message. Still it was a good thing that Shara had locked her terminal before she let her killer into her home. Otherwise the killer would have seen the message and erased it. The message may not have revealed the whole secret to them but finding it had given Shepard and Garrus a narrow scope of what the secret involved.

"So the secret involves money," Garrus pondered out loud, "you know I hadn't given it much thought but it is curious how the Peacekeepers are able to put on such extravagant promotions. Shara was right about how they haven't been selling out games for awhile and I can't see their sponsors contributing enough to cover all their expenses."

"Do you think we can get a warrant for us to look at their finances?" Shepard asked.

Garrus let out a painful hiss, "we could try but the majority of the judges I know are Peacekeeper fans. It's going to be tough to find one who will believe that their favorite team is up to something illegal. Plus I'm sure that Vala has some legal connections. She might find out about our efforts to get a warrant and get it shut down by filing the harassment charges. Unless we can be specific about what crime we believe the Peacekeepers have committed, Vala's charge will trump our warrant request."

Shepard was ready to throw his arms up in frustration when something on Garrus' terminal caught his attention. Among the other messages that were sent to him and Garrus to look over, there was an outgoing message Shara had sent to someone whose name Shepard recognized. He went back to his desk and pulled up the message on his terminal. It was brief but there was enough in it to stun Shepard into silence. Concerned by Shepard's sudden silence, Garrus tried to get his attention. Instead of acknowledging Garrus' call, Shepard typed a few more commands on his terminal. When he got the response he wanted, he pulled out his sidearm and headed for the exit.

"Shepard!" Garrus called while hurrying to grab his own weapon and follow Shepard out. "What's going on? What did you find?"

"One of the messages Shara sent was to someone we've spoken too," Shepard said after stopping to face Garrus, "he told me that he had no idea what the big secret Shara uncovered was. But the message I found proves that he lied to me."

* * *

Kaban Jeel rolled over in his bed and his eyes caught a glimpse of the clock on his nightstand. His eyes widened when he registered what time it was. He had overslept and he was at risk of being late arriving at the Citadome. All he had time to do before walking out the door was change out of his pajamas and into his uniform. Not even bothering to stop for a quick breakfast in the kitchen, Kaban instead went for the door that would take him out of his apartment. The door opened and Kaben froze when he saw who was standing on the other side.

Standing in a position that prevented Kaben from walking out the door were Shepard and Garrus. The two detectives had their arms crossed and were giving Kaban angry stares. Immediately Kaban realized why the detectives were there to see him and he took the first step in an attempt to run away. That one step was all he was able to take as Shepard and Garrus charged into the apartment and grabbed a hold of him. While Shepard closed the door, Garrus led Kaban into the kitchen and forced him into one of the dining chairs. Kaban tried to stand back up but Garrus held him down.

"Sit down!" Garrus scolded, "my partner and I need to talk to you."

"You shouldn't be here," Kaban said frantically, "Vala told everyone in the organization that she would file charges against you two if you two kept poking around."

"You're right," Shepard said once he joined the two in the kitchen, "she did threaten to file harassment charges. But we were told that we couldn't go back to the Citadome. Vala didn't say anything about us not being allowed to question people at their homes."

Kaban rolled his eyes, "you really think Vala will care about that distinction."

Garrus shrugged his shoulders, "maybe, maybe not. But I personally think she'll be more mad at you than at us. After all, if you hadn't lied to my partner, we wouldn't even be here right now."

"What are you talking about?! Detective Shepard, I told you that Shara was my friend and that I wanted to help you bring her killer to justice. Why would I lie to you?"

Shepard stepped towards Kaban and got up to his face, "I don't know why you would lie to me Kaban. But the fact of the matter is that you did. You told me that Shara wouldn't answer you when you asked about why she missed the meeting regarding the Starfire promotion. This morning we were able to log in to Shara's terminal and we found this message that she sent to you."

Pulling out a datapad, Shepard held it up for Kaban to read. Kaban initially wouldn't look at what was displayed on the screen. It was only when Garrus forced his head to face the screen that Kaban read the message. With each word, Kaban read, his face gradually filled with guilt.

* * *

Kaban,

It's time. I've gathered all the evidence I need. Tonight I'm sending everything to the commissioner. By this time tomorrow, everyone will know the truth. To be so close to the end, I have to say I was almost tempted to keep my date night with Torro to celebrate. But as the humans say, you should never put the cart before the horse. I just hope Torro will forgive me when I'm finally able to explain why I've been distant the past couple of weeks.

You know, I almost didn't want to tell you about what I was working on. As much as I wish I could say that it was because I wanted to protect you, the truth is it was because I wasn't entirely sure if you were involved in this mess or not. The genuine worry I saw in your eyes when you expressed concern for my well-being convinced me I was wrong not to trust you. You've been a good friend to me since we joined the organization together and I should have known better that you would never be a part of something like this. I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you for being my friend and confidant this past week.

Well I need to go. I'm just getting ready to head back to my apartment. Wish me luck.

Shara

* * *

"If Shara really had not told you about what she was working on," Shepard said when he was sure Kaban was done reading, "why would she call you her confidant."

"No more games Kaban," Garrus said while joining Shepard in front of Kaban, "what was the big secret that Shara uncovered about the Peacekeepers?"

Kaban's eyes went back and forth between the two detectives. It was clear that in his head he was going back and forth trying to decide whether to talk. Soon enough, he realized that the result was going to be bad whether he talked or not. Going with what he viewed as the lesser of two evils, he bowed his head and spoke in a soft tone.

"The games are fixed."

Shepard and Garrus' eyes widened.

"I'm sorry…what did you say?" Shepard asked to confirm that he and Garrus heard correctly.

"The games are fixed. Shara found out that Lyle had been placing bets with a bookmaker. You both are aware that for the past few seasons, the Peacekeepers have been the favorite to win the championship. The majority of gamblers then place their bets in favor of us doing just that. But Lyle has his bookmaker place bets for him in favor of the opposite outcome. Then the coaches and players who are in on the scam intentionally choke during the final games. We lose the championship but Lyle wins a huge payday from the bookmaker."

"Spirits," said Garrus, "all this time people thought it was the curse that was causing the Peacekeepers to lose. Hell even I thought it was the curse. It should have occurred to me that the team was too good to lose the way they did, curse or no curse."

"Wait a minute," Shepard said, "there's one thing that doesn't make sense. Wilkinson is making a killing betting against his own team but what about the organization? Eventually all these loses are going to hurt game attendance. How can he afford the hit to his organization's finances so he can make a personal profit."

"Easy," said Kaban, "it's not his money he's using to place the bets."

Shepard and Garrus puzzled over what Kaban meant when the answer hit them. Wilkinson was using the organization's money. The secret Shara, and now Shepard and Garrus, uncovered continued to get worse. Not only was Wilkinson placing illegal bets against his own team but now it was discovered he embezzled money from his own organization to do so. The two detectives now had the full picture of how the scheme would operate.

Wilkinson would place the bets against the Peacekeepers through his bookmaker using the organization's money. Given how Wilkinson was going to fix the games to guarantee he won, it wouldn't have surprised Shepard and Garrus if Wilkinson was bold enough to bet every single credit the organization had. With the odds being heavily stacked in favor of the Peacekeepers winning, the more money Wilkinson put down would result in an even bigger payout. The size of the payout would easily be enough to not only payback the money Wilkinson embezzled, but it could also pay off all the people involved in throwing the games and give the organization itself a profitable year regardless of their attendance during the season. No wonder Wilkinson could afford to give Shara's promotions team a generous budget. The scary thing was even with all those things paid off, Wilkinson would still have enough left over to give himself a huge personal profit. Easy to do though when it wasn't his money he was using to gamble with.

Things would have continued to go smoothly for Wilkinson if it hadn't been for Shara looking a gift horse in the mouth and wondering how she was being given a generous budget every year. If she had been able to send her discovery to the commissioner, a lot of people, including Wilkinson would have received either fines, loss of jobs and/or prison sentences. On top of all that, the Peacekeeper's reputation would have been damaged so badly it would likely take years to recover. It was everything Shepard and Garrus needed to show that Wilkinson had motive to want Shara dead.

"How did Wilkinson find out though?" Garrus asked, "Shara was being extremely secretive about what she was investigating. She wouldn't even tell her boyfriend or her best friend about it. The only person she told was…"

Garrus stopped talking as he and Shepard threw accusing glares at Kaban.

"No…no!" Kaban stammered. "I swear I didn't tell anyone about Shara's investigation! Detective Shepard, the reason I didn't tell you what I knew was because I figured if they were able to find out about Shara, they could easily find out that I knew what she knew and come after me next."

Kaban's answer as to why he didn't tell Shepard the truth did seem logical. While Kaban and Shara were friends, they may not have been close friends like Shara and Jala were. Thus Kaban wouldn't have felt strongly about risking his life to help Shara. Still the question of how someone else caught on to Shara investigating the Peacekeepers was left unanswered.

"Garrus," Shepard said, "I know you had no reason to look for anything like this but when you were in Wilkinson's office, did you happen to spot any hidden surveillance equipment."

Garrus' eyes widened as a memory came to him, "now that you mention it, my visor did detect a couple of hidden cameras. I didn't think anything of it at the time because a lot of rich people don't want people in their private office when they aren't around. But if Shara wasn't aware of that and she broke into Wilkinson's office looking for clues, it would have tipped him off to what she was doing."

"Lyle always was a bit paranoid if you ask me," said Kaban, "I wasn't aware of the camera's but I remember when he redid his office so that electronic transmissions couldn't get in or out. Until Shara told me what she uncovered, I couldn't understand why he was afraid of people intercepting his calls and emails."

Another puzzle piece fell into place. Both Shepard and Garrus had been struggling to understand why Garrus' comm. didn't pick up any of the moment during the operation when Kadarus went rogue. If Wilkinson's office really was shielded so transmissions couldn't get in or out, that would explain why it was only after Garrus left the office that the chaotic chatter overwhelmed his comm. Though Wilkinson probably didn't have the comm. interference accounted for in his plan to frame Napier, it did help get the outcome he wanted.

"Listen," Kaban continued, "there's one other thing. Yesterday, before I talked to Detective Shepard, I overheard Maul telling another security guard that Lyle was concerned that you two were getting close uncovering his scheme. He wanted Maul to have security to arranvge for all sensitive data to be copied and sent to a secure location and wipe the originals. I guess he wanted to be sure that there would be no evidence for you two to find if you continued your investigation."

"Which means we need to move if we want to get there before all the evidence is gone," Garrus said as he headed for the door, "bring Kaban with us Shepard. Once he tells Bailey all of this, we should have everything we need to get a warrant for the Citadome."

"But Garrus," Shepard replied, "we don't know how many people in the Peacekeeper organization is in on Wilkinson's scheme. If there's a lot of them, they may decide to fight us rather than cooperate with us. I think we can assume Maul would definitely choose the former."

Garrus nodded and gave Shepard a sly smile, "that's why we're also going to request for the SRD to join us."


	13. Chapter 13

The SRD that Garrus referred to was C-SEC's Special Response Division. The officers who worked for that division were trained to handle hostage situations, bombs and heavily armed criminals. In the event the Citadel was ever under attack, they also served as the stations front line defense force on the ground. They were essentially the equivalent of Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) teams used by law enforcement organizations of the United North American States. A police organization that used military weapons and tactics. As Shepard glanced at the eight officers riding in the transport with him and Garrus, their armor and weapons almost made him feel he was on a mission with a squad of soldiers rather than with C-SEC officers.

Further adding to the feeling of being on a military operation was the fact that Shepard himself was dressed in battle armor. But unlike the other officers whose armor bore C-SEC colors, Shepard was wearing his Alliance battle armor. When Shepard put the armor on before they left, he took one moment to admire the view of the N7 logo displayed on his chest. The Alliance marines had an expression that said there was no such thing as an ex-marine. Once a person became a marine, they were a marine for life. That was why, even though Shepard was no longer a part of the Alliance military, he didn't think it was inappropriate for him to be wearing Alliance marine armor. He was Shepard, C-SEC detective, Spectre, N7 marine.

Clutched in Shepard's hand was a freshly signed search warrant on a datapad. He and Garrus had drafted the warrant shortly after they arrived at HQ with Kaban. The warrant, when signed, would give them permission to search and seize any and all terminals at the Citadome to search for proof of Wilkinson's embezzlement and gambling. While they worked to find a judge to sign it, Bailey was already placing the call to the SRD to put a team together. As Garrus had anticipated, it was tough convincing the judge they reached out to of what the Peacekeepers were up to. The judge quickly changed his tune when Shepard and Garrus put Kaban on the comm. Hearing one of the Peacekeepers' star players confirm everything Shepard and Garrus said was true was more than enough to convince the judge to approve the warrant. In a moment of perfect timing, the judge sent the signed warrant to Shepard and Garrus just when Bailey informed them that a SRD team was assembled and waiting for them.

The driver of the transport called out the distance until the team would be at their destination. Shepard used the remaining ride time to perform a final weapons check and put on his helmet. Garrus and the other officers did the same thing. The tight quarters of the transport made the clicks of the weapons echo inside but the officers paid it no mind. They were more concerned with what was potentially going to happen after they reached their destination. As a sort of final roll call before the mission, each officer gave their callsign and said they were ready once their weapons check was complete. Shepard and Garrus, being detectives, gave themselves the callsigns Delta-2 and Delta-1 respectively. Delta because it was the phonetic alphabet representation for the letter "D" and the numbers assigned by their respective seniority. The SRD officers were given callsigns SR1 through SR8 based on their seniority. The transport's engines powered down indicating they were about to land. Upon touching the ground, the transport's doors opened and the team was greeted by the sight of the Citadome.

It was a practice day at the Citadome so there weren't a lot of skycars in the parking lot. Fortunately there were still a decent amount to provide cover for the SRD officers. The plan was for them to move slowly from cover to cover until they were as close to the entrance as they could be without being seen. Once they were in position, Shepard and Garrus would exit the transport and stroll right up to the door with their search warrant in hand. The SRD officers would then remain hidden and listen through the comm. that Shepard and Garrus would leave open. In a perfect world, Shepard and Garrus would serve the warrant and be allowed to go inside unhindered. However, in the likely event Shepard and Garrus encountered resistance, they would say the code word and SRD would come to their aid.

The SRD officers filed out of the transport and got to their positions in almost record time. Shepard and Garrus followed suit. Shortly into their movement towards the door, they noticed some scurrying figures in the windows. If they were lucky, the figures would be alerting security that they were coming and security would meet them at the entrance. The more guards that came to the door to greet them, the less they would risk running into once they entered the building. Suddenly the familiar figure of Vala Isali appeared at the entrance along with four security guards. Shepard and Garrus were forced to stop when Vala and the guard stormed out of the building and approached them.

"DETECTIVES!" Vala shouted. "YOU WERE EXPLICITLY TOLD NEVER TO COME BACK HERE! The executor told me that Shara's murder case is closed so you have no reason to be here. If you don't leave now, I will call the executor and see to it that he has your badges."

"Spare us your threats Ms. Isali," Garrus replied, "my partner and I have a warrant that not only compels you to let us in the Citadome but allows us to seize any and all terminals."

As Garrus spoke, Shepard handed the warrant to a stunned Vala.

"What?" Vala said as she glanced through the warrant's content. "This can't be real. What does any of this have to do with Shara's murder?"

"It has everything to do with it," Garrus continued, "we finally found out what the big secret was that Shara uncovered and it didn't involve Robert Napier. She found out that your boss, Mr. Wilkinson, has been placing bets using organization funds against his team and fixing the games so that he wins. We believe that the evidence that Shara used to make the discovery is in this building and that warrant in your hands allows us to look for it. Now you and your entourage need to step aside and let my partner and I inside."

Vala appeared too stunned to make a decision but a voice in her ear helped her regain her senses. The detectives had a feeling that Wilkinson was calling Vala on her comm. She listened to the voice for several seconds. Each thing she heard seemed to increase her confidence and a smile slowly appeared on her face.

"Okay detectives," she said, "we'll let you in. You'll just need to wait until Mr. Wilkinson says he's ready for you."

Based on what Kaban had told Shepard and Garrus, they figured that Wilkinson had told Vala he was already working to destroy the evidence and wanted her to stall them while he finished. That explained why Vala had suddenly became cooperative. Albeit she was taking her time to do so. The detectives needed to make their move soon. But first, they were going to try at least one more time to avoid a firefight.

"Ms. Isali," Garrus said in a commanding tone, "we're not going to tell you to step aside again. We're executing this warrant…right now!"

The command promoted Vala to snap her fingers which caused the guards behind her to pull out their weapons and aim them at the detectives, "I'm sorry detectives. I must insist that you wait until Mr. Wilkinson is ready for you. The guards are a bit trigger happy and I would hate for you two to be 'accidentally' killed."

Garrus shot back a smile of his own, "looks like we have no choice. Guess that's what happens when we don't have a…failsafe."

(BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!)

Four shots were fired and the heads of the four security guards exploded. Before Vala could comprehend what had happened, Shepard and Garrus grabbed her and forced her to the ground. Garrus held Vala down while Shepard handcuffed Vala's hands behind her back. The moment Vala was restrained, the SRD team had circled up around them. Shepard handed Vala to one of the SRD officers.

"Hold her in the transport until we've secured the scene," he said, "everyone else, we're going in."

Shepard, Garrus and the SRD team walked single file into the Citadome with their weapons raised. Their first objective was to get to Wilkinson's office. Once they ensured that evidence was no longer being destroyed, then they could focus on securing the rest of the stadium. The team marched through the concourse, passed the concession stands and found the door that lead to the stairwell they were looking for.

Suddenly the stairwell door opened and more security guards emerged from it. Each one started firing their weapons once they were through. The team ducked behind whatever cover they could find. The members who got to cover first quickly returned fire. Two security guards were gunned down while the rest found cover. To the team's great luck, the guards didn't disperse among the available cover and hunkered together near one of the concession stands. While the team kept them pinned with surprising fire, Shepard tossed a grenade towards the guards hiding place.

(BOOM!)

The resulting explosion sent every security guard flying. Most of them were killed by the blast. The few that were still alive were too wounded to be a threat to the team. Shepard and Garrus led the team to the stairwell but were stopped by gunfire coming from behind them. After the team was back in cover, they saw what looked like a platoon of guards approaching from the back. The door to the stairwell was out of reach of the rest of the team but Shepard and Garrus could easily reach it from their positions. As much as they didn't want to leave their comrades, they couldn't afford to wait until all the guards were dead before continuing on. If they did, Wilkinson would have all the time he needed to completely destroy the evidence.

One of the SRD officers seemed to read their minds and called out to them between shots, "we've got this detectives! Go on ahead and we'll keep these bastards from following you."

After giving the officer a respectful nod of admiration for the team's bravery, Shepard and Garrus charged for the stairwell while the team gave them covering fire. They didn't slow down as they made their way up the stairs. When they reached the administration level, they both hugged one side of the doorway. Garrus gave a silent three count and opened the door. Silence came from the other side of the door. Shepard and Garrus carefully peaked inside and down the hallway. They realized too late that they should have looked around the corner of the doorway first.

(GASP!)

A pair of hands emerged from around the corner and grabbed Shepard and Garrus by their throats. The detectives managed to hang onto their weapons but they were too distracted with struggling to breathe. A quick glance down revealed the source of the strong hands was none other than Maul, the brutish krogan security chief. He gave the detectives a sinister grin as he turned and threw them down the hallway. The rough landing caused the detectives to drop their weapons and they continued to roll across the floor just enough to put the weapons out of their reach.

"I should have done that to you two the first time I saw you," Maul growled, "now I'm going to make you both regret ever coming here."

As Shepard and Garrus struggled to catch their breath, they looked up in time to see that Maul was preparing to charge. Normally a charging krogan meant they needed to gun it down before it could reach them. With their weapons out of reach however, that left that option off the table. In that moment, dodging was their best course of action. They waited until Maul was close and then did a dodge roll to the side. Maul ran past them and collided with the wall. Krogan being the hard headed species they were meant that Maul wouldn't be stunned for long and attempt another charge. There was no way Shepard and Garrus could keep the dodging strategy up forever. They weren't thrilled about it, but they were going to have to fight Maul hand-to-hand. It wasn't their ideal method for engaging a krogan but the two of them combined had enough combat experience that gave them a chance of coming out alive. Shepard and Garrus had a brief, silent exchange to plan their attack and charged before Maul had a chance to do the same.

The detectives forced Maul up against the wall. Upon impact, Garrus threw a right hook. Shepard followed up by kicking Maul's leg. Maul dropped to his knees. Garrus punched Maul one more time, knocking Maul down to the ground. The detectives then piled on top of Maul to pin him down. Maul put up a fight but Shepard and Garrus' combined strength kept him from being able to get back up. It was time for the detectives to execute the critical part of their plan. They never intended to incapacitate Maul as that would take too long. Instead they wanted to scare Maul into surrendering. While Garrus kept holding Maul down, Shepard moved so that he was in Maul's line of sight. He then deployed his omni-blade and inched it towards the plate on Maul's head. Zaeed Massani, a former squadmate of Shepard's, had once told him the threat of removing the plate from a krogan's head was a good way to make them talk. The hope was that the same logic would make Maul stop resisting. Sure enough, the minute Maul saw Shepard's blade moving toward his head, he realized what Shepard planned to do and froze. The pause in Maul's struggling gave Garrus enough time to put handcuffs on him. They were a kind of handcuff specifically designed for krogan. Maul would not be able to break them off and with his hands behind his back, Shepard and Garrus didn't need to worry about him getting back up again. The fight had been rough but the detectives had to press on. Wilkinson's office was in their sights.

After retrieving their weapons, Shepard and Garrus took up positions on both sides of the door. This time they weren't going to risk being surprised by someone on the other side. Shepard pulled out a flash grenade and nodded to Garrus to indicate he was ready. Garrus pushed the button to open the door and Shepard threw the grenade inside. A bright flash and a loud bang followed. Both of which Shepard and Garrus expected to hear. What they didn't expect to hear were several screams reacting to the explosion. There was more than one person in Wilkinson's office. Not wanting to give any of them a chance to recover, they walked into the office with their weapons raised and shouted orders.

"C-SEC! EVERYONE ON THE GROUND! NOW! HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!"

Besides Wilkinson, the office was filled with six people all in sharply dressed suits. Each one had a briefcase on the floor next them. From the way the contents were spilled out on the ground, the briefcases had been dropped by their owners in response the flash grenade. The contents themselves were something Shepard and Garrus did not expect to see. Hard copy credits. It was more secure for credit transactions to be done electronically. The only people who carried hard currency were people who didn't want their transactions to be tracked. If everyone in the room was carrying hard currency, it was likely they were not conducting legal business. With what they knew of the operation Wilkinson was running, Shepard and Garrus suspected the six individuals were bookmakers. Their presence raised a red flag in Shepard and Garrus' head but they couldn't worry about that just yet. First they needed to secure the scene.

The detectives kept their weapons trained on the seven people in the room until they were all on the ground with their hands on the head. Once everyone was in a non-threatening position, Shepard went around handcuffing them while Garrus kept his weapon raised to keep them from trying anything. Shepard and Garrus then helped everyone up into a seated position against the wall. Convinced that no one was going anywhere, Garrus went to work on Wilkinson's terminal while Shepard activated his comm. to check in with the SRD leader.

"Delta-2 to SR1," he said, "we're secure up here. What's your status?"

"We just took out the last hostile down here," the SRD leader responded, "I'm sending up two of my men to provide security for you and your prisoners. The rest of us will split up and do a thorough sweep of the stadium to ensure there aren't any hostiles hiding elsewhere."

"Copy that, SR1. Good work holding the line for us. Keep us posted if you find anything."

"Will do, Delta-2. SR1 out."

After signing off, Shepard joined Garrus by the terminal. On route, he noticed that Garrus seemed puzzled by what he was seeing. He realized why once he got a look at the screen himself. Garrus had found the evidence they were looking for. Every record of Wilkinson embezzling money from the Peacekeeper organization to fund his illegal gambling and then putting the funds back with a profit after he won. A quick glance at Wilkinson's message box revealed emails between Wilkinson and the Peacekeeper's coach where they discussed how a specific game was going to be thrown to ensure the team lost and Wilkinson win his bet. Their entire case against Wilkinson was on his terminal…and that was what bothered them.

Wilkinson did have a program deleting files when Shepard and Garrus had stormed into his office but barely anything had been deleted before they stopped it. It was like Wilkinson started the program upon their arrival to the Citadome. Plus there was the fact that they seemed to have interrupted a meeting between Wilkinson and bookmakers. With all the heat that Shara's murder investigation was bringing the Peacekeepers, why was Wilkinson keeping business going as usual?

Garrus walked towards Wilkinson while Shepard kept working on the terminal, "it's over, Wilkinson. There's enough evidence on that terminal to prove everything. You and every other crooked Peacekeeper staff member are finished. I can only hope that once the organization gets some honest people working for it that the team might start having the winning season they should have had long ago."

"Spare me the guilt trip Detective," Wilkinson said while refusing to make eye contact, "the organization should be thanking me. I found a way for us to make a profit every year regardless of the team's performance."

"And also net a significant personal profit for you as well," Shepard said sarcastically.

"What the hell are you two doing here anyway? What does any of this have to do with your murder investigation?"

"Come on Wilkinson," said Garrus, "we know that Shara was investigating you. She couldn't understand how you were giving her team such a generous budget every year. Upon investigation, she found out that you were embezzling organization funds to make illegal bets against the team. Then you fixed the games so the Peacekeepers would lose and you'd make out like a bandit with the bookmakers. Despite all the money that this allowed you to give her and her team every year, Shara couldn't stomach that the money was gained through illegal means. She was going to expose what you were doing to the biotiball league commissioner. We believe that you found out what she was doing and arranged for her to be killed."

The story made perfect sense to Shepard and Garrus but Wilkinson looked like he was having trouble following their logic, "you're lying. This office is protected from wireless hacking and my security camera has no record of Shara ever being in here. There's no way she could have accessed the content on my terminal. I don't care what your warrant says. I think you two are using Shara's death as an excuse to investigate me. Vala will find some way to get your warrant thrown out and then all the 'evidence' you've gathered will be useless to you."

"Partner," Shepard said with a slightly worried tone, "As much as I hate to say this, Wilkinson may have a point. I found the camera's footage and so far I have not found any time where Shara was in this office."

Garrus returned to the terminal and looked over Shepard's shoulder while he continued scanning the footage. At first glance, it was looking like the one person that wasn't seen in Wilkinson's office was Shara. Suddenly Garrus hit a button to pause and rewind the footage. To Shepard, it seemed like a weird place to do so as no one was in the office during the segment in question. When Garrus had rewinded as far as he wanted, he started play the footage again but at a frame by frame speed. A couple of frames went by before Shepard saw what had gotten Garrus' attention.

By slowing down the footage, a glitch in the footage became more couldn't help but be amazed at how Garrus caught the glitch on his own. Then again, Garrus had once mentioned that there were several times in his career where he had to scan security footage for leads. During that time it became second nature for him to look for glitches. He could also tell Shepard exactly what caused the glitch they were seeing. Someone had cut the live feed and quickly spliced in looped footage of an empty office. The loop lasted for about twenty minutes and then the live footage was restored. More than enough time for someone to sneak into Wilkinson's office, find whatever they were looking for and leave without anyone knowing what had happened.

It was at that point that the backup the SRD leader promised arrived. They informed Shepard and Garrus that other C-SEC vehicles were arriving, including a prisoner transport vehicle. Garrus then ordered them to take the seven people in the room and Maul, who was still handcuffed outside lying on the ground, out to the prison transport with Vala and have the transport take them back to HQ. Wilkinson protested the whole time while demanding to know what Garrus and Shepard saw on the footage. Once they had the room to themselves, Shepard and Garrus compared notes on what they had learned.

"So Wilkinson really didn't find out about Shara's investigation," Garrus began, "it always did seem weird to me that Shara, being as careful as she was, would fail to take into account that Wilkinson's office was monitored."

"Yeah," Shepard replied, "but if Shara really did manage to avoid being detected, then why was she killed? Could it actually be that her death was not connected to Wilkinson's scheme?"

Garrus pondered on Shepard's question for a second. His eyes suddenly widened when a thought suddenly came to him. He went back to Wilkinson's terminal and found a particular file. The file contained a list of a names and Garrus' eyes crossed with anger when he saw a specific name.

"Son of a bitch," he growled.

"What is it?" Shepard asked with concern.

"Answer me this partner," Garrus replied, "Wilkinson may have been the top man in this conspiracy but who else would be negatively affected if Shara had told the commissioner what she uncovered?"

Another test from Garrus to see if Shepard could come to the same conclusion Garrus did on his own, "well any administrator who was aware of his embezzling but looked the other way….and the players and coaches who helped him fixed the matches. The latter likely wouldn't get jail time but their career stats would be redacted and they would be banned rom the league."

"Exactly."

"But how would any of them find out? Shara only told…one…player."

Realizing that Shepard was picking up on what he was thinking, Garrus invited Shepard to join him behind the terminal. The screen displayed a list of names that Shepard realized were all the players and coaches that were involved in Wilkinson's scheme. Garrus then pointed to show the name that both he and Shepard had thought of was on the list.

"Son of a bitch," said Shepard.


	14. Chapter 14

The ride back to C-SEC HQ was filled with more chatter than the ride to the Citadome. Alas for Shepard and Garrus, this was not an improvement. It was actually more of an annoyance. They had to leave the Citadome in a hurry and the only vehicle heading back to C-SEC was the prisoner transport vehicle. Thus Shepard and Garrus had to cram into the front seat so that they didn't have to ride in the back with the prisoners. Though they weren't able to see the prisoners, that didn't stop them from being able to hear them.

Wilkinson and Vala were the loudest of the protestors. They kept insisting that Shepard and Garrus had no case against them. As far as they knew, Shara's death had nothing to do with the scheme Wilkinson was running. Since their warrant was granted based on that theory, there were certain they could get the warrant overturned. Little did they know that the discovery Shepard and Garrus found at the Citadome proved that Shara's death was caused by her investigation into Wilkinson, just not in the way they had thought. But they were not going to let Wilkinson or Vala know that. Their biggest concern at the moment was something else.

When the ride began, Garrus had called Bailey to warn him that their murder suspect was at C-SEC but would likely be trying to leave now that the raid at the Citadome was over. He requested that Bailey lock down the building and alert him and Shepard the moment that their suspect was in custody. Now they were minutes away and Bailey hadn't called back. It was possible their suspect had fled the building before the lockdown was initiated but that seemed unlikely. Garrus had called in the lockdown request quickly. So where was their suspect and why couldn't anyone find him? Suddenly a call came in from Bailey just before the transport turned the final corner.

"Get out of the transport when you two reach our parking structure!" He said urgently. "Our officers watching the surveillance vids just spotted your man entering the area!"

Bailey's news was both reassuring and confusing to Shepard and Garrus. On the one hand, they now had confirmation that their suspect was still in the building. On the other hand, it was strange that their suspect was in the parking structure. They had brought their suspect to C-SEC in their vehicle so he had no personal vehicle waiting for him. With the building under lockdown, any rides he might have tried to arrange wouldn't have been aloud in the structure. How was he expecting to get out of there? Hopefully Shepard and Garrus would be able to find him before he could enact whatever escape plan he had.

The transport slowed just enough for Shepard and Garrus to hop out at the parking structure and pulled away. Once the officers guarding the entrance to the structure received clearance from Bailey to allow Shepard and Garrus in, the detectives pulled out their sidearms and made their way inside. They moved slowly to ensure the sound of their footsteps remained quiet. If they were going to hear any footsteps, they wanted it to be their suspect's.

About halfway into their ascent, they heard something but it wasn't footsteps. It sounded like someone trying to force something open. Quickening their pace but keeping the footsteps silent, Shepard and Garrus moved towards the source of the sound. It was on the next level that they saw a figure trying to break into one of the many C-SEC skycars parked in the lot. It then became clear how their man was planning to leave the structure. He was going to use a C-SEC issue skycar to approach the gate. The gate guards would let their guard down thinking he was a C-SEC officer. Before the guards could realize he wasn't, their man would smash through the gate and be out of the area before C-SEC could react. Shepard nodded to Garrus to indicate that he would follow Garrus' lead. Weapons raised, Garrus and Shepard approached the figure.

"KABAN JEEL!" Garrus shouted. "STEP AWAY FROM THE SKYCAR AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!"

Kaban stopped what he was doing and slowly complied with Garrus' command. He slowly turned around so that he was now facing the detectives. When he recognized them, Kaban seemed surprised. Shepard and Garrus figured that Kaban was hoping they would still be at the Citadome. He confirmed this with what he said next.

"Detectives? What are you doing here? Did you finish raiding the Citadome already?

"We did," Shepard replied. "Wilkinson is in custody and our techs are going through the terminals we found."

"Well…that's great," Kaban said while slowly lowering his arms, "sounds like you have everything you need to get him to tell you who he sent to kill Shara."

"WE DIDN'T SAY YOU COULD LOWER YOUR HANDS!" Garrus shouted causing Kaban's hands to snap back up.

"T…take it easy Detective," said Kaban, "listen, there's no need for guns. Whatever's wrong, I'm sure we can talk it out."

"That's fine," said Garrus, "but before we can talk, we should advise you that we're here to arrest you for Shara's murder."

"What?!" Kaban gasped while involuntarily taking a step back. "That's crazy! We've already been over this. Shara was my friend. Why would I kill her? Besides you already have Wilkinson. He's the one who has the strongest motive for wanting Shara dead."

"You're right," Shepard said, "the thing is, he only has motive if he had known about Shara investigating his operation. When we told him that Shara was about to report him to the league commissioner, he was surprised. He had no idea that his operation was so close to being exposed."

"And before you say that he's lying," Garrus said continuing the explanation, "when we stormed the Citadome, Wilkinson was in the middle of a meeting with bookmakers. If he was really concerned about his operation being exposed, he would have been laying low instead of keeping business running as usual."

Shepard continued, "he also would have been destroying evidence BEFORE we stormed the Citadome. The fact that he didn't start until AFTER we showed up not only proves he really didn't know Shara was on to him, but it also proves that you lied to us when you said that you heard Maul saying that Lyle ordered him to destroy evidence. Now why would you lie to us?"

"Because you wanted us to focus solely on Wilkinson. That way we wouldn't bother to look too closely at how his operation was run. Unfortunately for you, we did look at Wilkinson's terminal and found a list of every member of the organization involved in his scheme and your name was on it."

"It all fell into place for us after that," Shepard said as he prepared to deliver the final punch, "when Shara confided in you what she was doing, you realized that your career and reputation were on the line as well. You went to her apartment to talk her out of exposing the scheme. You didn't have to break in because Shara trusted you and didn't see you as a threat. When it became clear that Shara wasn't going to back down, you lost it and you stabbed her twenty times with a knife that you brought with you."

In that instant, Kaban's expression changed. He didn't look scared anymore. He was angry. The jig was up and he knew it. But he didn't seem like he was on the verge of surrendering either. This was proven by the fact that he started to slowly lower his hands. Shepard and Garrus tensed up because they knew he was about to try something. Before they could issue a warning, Kaban smacked the skycar he was trying to break into and the door opened. Evidently he had finished breaking into the skycar when Shepard and Garrus surprised him. He climbed inside the skycar, closed the door and proceeded to hot wire it.

Shepard and Garrus knew that C-SEC skycar windows were bulletproof so there was no point in trying to hit Kaban. Instead all they could do was charge the skycar and try to open the door. They barely started their attempt when they heard the skycar start up. It hovered for a second and moved forward, forcing Shepard and Garrus to step back. Within seconds, the skycar vanished from their sights as it headed for the structures exit.

"My skycar is on the level above us," said Garrus, "it's close but I don't think we'll be able catch up to Kaban before he leaves the structure and vanishes in the traffic."

Shepard knew Garrus was right but his mind raced as he tried to think of some way to catch Kaban. He and Garrus had found Shara's murderer and there was no way he was going to let him get away. They were going to need a skycar to catch Kaban but how to find him once they were out of the structure. If they had been able to put a tracker on the skycar Kaban took, they would be able to follow him even if they didn't have a visual. Sadly they didn't have any tracking devices on them so that the idea was moot…or was it. An idea popped into Shepard's head. It was risky and that already made Shepard not thrilled about it. He had was already in hot water with Ashley for taking dangerous risks the past two days and didn't want to tempt fate with a third. But as guilty as he would feel if he took the risk, the guilt would be stronger if he had a chance to catch Shara's killer and didn't take it. With his mind made up, Shepard took off towards a nearby elevator.

"Get to your car and leave the structure," he called to Garrus as he ran, "once you're out, follow my suit tracker. It will lead you to Kaban."

Before Garrus could ask any questions, the door to the elevator closed. Alone in the elevator car, Shepard tuned out the elevator music and took some calming breaths. If he was right, this was going to be the last calm moment he was going to have for a while. Worst case scenario, it could be the final calm moment of his life. No. Shepard was not going to think that way. He needed to focus on what he was about to do. The next few minutes would prove that he deserved the nickname given to him by his former squadmate, James Vega: Loco.

* * *

Garrus ran to his skycar as fast as he could. In a fluid motion, he remotely opened his car door, jumped in it and got the car started and moving before the door closed completely. He was tempted to get on the radio to warn the gate guards but knew that it wouldn't help. Kaban would be approaching the gate by the time he raised someone and Kaban would just smash through when he realized the guards were being alerted. There was nothing he could do but go after Kaban and hope Shepard's plan worked.

But what was Shepard's plan? The last thing he said to Garrus was to follow his suit tracker when he was out of the structure. Garrus figured that Shepard wanted to use the tracker to help them track Kaban's car even if they lost visual. Except Garrus couldn't understand how Shepard was going to get his tracker on the car. Their suit trackers were designed not to be removed easily. If an officer was in danger and needed assistance, the last thing they would want is for their tracker to fall off their suit somewhere and lead their rescuers to wrong place. So why was Shepard wanting him to follow his tracker? Though he didn't understand why he was doing it, Garrus trusted Shepard's judgement enough that he tuned the skycar's radar to Shepard's tracker.

As Garrus approached the exit of the parking structure, he saw the gate had been smashed by Kaban's exit. The C-SEC officers guarding the gate were looking around outside and calling on their radios. Likely they were reporting Kaban breaking through the gate. Both officers didn't appear to be wounded so Garrus didn't stop to check on them and proceeded through the exit. He was forced to slow down in order to complete a turn he needed to make. While he drove, he looked up towards the traffic flow Kaban would be driving into. Sure enough, he saw Kaban's skycar rising to the top of the parking structure and heading towards the traffic. In a few seconds, Kaban would be driving with the traffic and be out of Garrus sight. Once he was gone, Kaban could take any number of exits leaving Garrus with no way to know where he was heading. If Shepard was going to do something to help Garrus tail Kaban, he needed to do it now.

Suddenly Garrus noticed something else at the top of the parking structure. Whatever it was, it was moving at a quick pace. It was too small and not moving fast enough to be a skycar. Garrus tapped his visor to make it zoom in on the shape. When the image finished zooming in and focusing on the shape, Garrus' mouth dropped.

"Spirits!" He exclaimed in horror.

* * *

A dinging sound was heard and the elevator doors opened when it reached the roof of the parking structure. The timing of the arrival was perfect. His mind was clear and focused. He ran out of elevator full speed towards the side of the structure closest to the nearby traffic flow. In fact, Shepard could hear Kaban's car approaching. A feeling of hesitation tried to crop up in him but he internally shoved it aside with ease. He had made up his mind and he was not turning back.

Just before Kaban's car was level with the roof of the structure, Shepard had reached some skycars parked along the edge of the structure. In a fluid motion, Shepard leaped onto the roof of one of them, ran from the back of the car to its front and leaped over the structure's wall into the open air. For a brief moment, everything seemed to move in slow motion as Shepard seemed to glide several stories above the ground. Eventually his forward motion slowed down and gravity began to take over. Fortunately for Shepard, his jump had achieved the desired distance and he was over Kaban's skycar which was rising up to meet him. Kaban's skycar was rising at a relatively slow pace so it didn't hurt Shepard when landed on the roof of the skycar. However the impact was still hard enough that Shepard's landing wasn't gentle and he found himself rolling across the skycar's roof. He would have fallen off the skycar if he didn't manage to deploy his omni-blade and jam it into the roof. Secured as he could be, Shepard adjusted himself so that he was lying face down. His free hand managed to find a grip to hold on to and he braced himself for whatever maneuvers Kaban might try to shake him off.

From his position Shepard could see Kaban looking up to investigate the noise Shepard made when landed on the skycar. After some initial shock and confusion as to how Shepard had managed to get on his car, Kaban's eyes crossed with anger before he turned back to look in front of him. The skycar started to swerve side to side. A classic move seen in vids when characters tried to shake someone off the roof of a car. If Shepard had been on the roof of a land based vehicle, there would have been a chance he could survive a fall. Being several stories above the ground however meant that a fall in this case would be fatal to Shepard. His grip tightened as he fought to stay on. When Kaban realized Shepard was still with him, he started taking more drastic measures.

Even with all the traffic around him, Kaban stared making the skycar do a loop. Shepard started to get nervous as he knew that his omni-blade would not hold him in place the minute the skycar was completely upside down. He quickly deactivated his blade and found a grip for his other hand. With both hands gripped tight and the skycar flying upside down, Shepard dangled in the air while fighting the urge to look down. Not just because he didn't want to see how high up he was but because his safety depended on him looking ahead. Kaban was flying above the traffic high enough to clear but Shepard dangling below meant he would easily collide with the skycars Kaban flew over. Shepard lifted his legs up as high as he could and each time he managed to clear the skycars. Luckily Kaban didn't want to narrow the gap between him and the other skycars and risk a collision. The pattern of Shepard lifting his legs repeated for a several seconds when he heard a sound most people would dread. To Shepard however, it filled him with relief.

Shepard didn't risk turning towards the source of the sound but he knew it was a C-SEC skycar coming up behind them. He also had no doubt that it was Garrus who was driving. Garrus' sirens ensured he had a clear path and was able to follow the Shepard's tracker and catch up in record time. The arrival of Garrus also caused Kaban to switch his focus from shaking Shepard off the skycar to trying to lose Garrus. Kaban flipped the skycar back over causing Shepard to fall back to his previous position of lying facedown on the roof. He then tried to shake off Garrus by taking a random exit. Garrus did end up overshooting the exit and was unable to turn around. Kaban likely thought he was successful in losing Garrus but Shepard knew that his suit tracker would allow Garrus to catch back up.

With Garrus gone, Kaban resumed trying to shake Shepard off. The muscles in Shepard's arms were starting to ache but he forced them to continue holding on. This chase couldn't last much longer. Garrus would've called all available skycars to join in the pursuit and given them Shepard's tracker signal so they could find him. Kaban may be able to outrun one C-SEC skycar but there was no way he could outrun multiple skycars. Though at that moment, the only thing Kaban was concerned with was shaking Shepard off. He was in the process of starting another loop when he suddenly slammed on the brakes. If Shepard hadn't had his feet tucked into some slots on the roof, he would have flown forward. As soon as the car was hovering steadily, Shepard looked up to see what had caused Kaban to stop and smiled when he did.

Three C-SEC skycars had arrived from the opposite direction and blocked the traffic. They were hovering at different altitudes to ensure no one tried to fly above or below the obstruction. Alas Kaban made a last ditch effort to avoid capture by trying to back up and turn around so that he could drive back the way he came. He didn't get far however as he was confronted by three more squad cars. Leading the trio was none other than Garrus. Three skycars in front of Kaban and three skycars behind him. He was effectively boxed in.

The doors of Garrus' skycar opened and he stood up. His trusty sniper rifle hung by his side. He then raised it and aimed at the skycar. It would be difficult for him to disable the skycar without hurting Shepard but Garrus had full confidence in his sniping skills. But if he was lucky, he wouldn't need to use them. He tapped his comm. and activated the feature that would allow his voice to be projected from his skycar's loudspeaker.

"It's over Kaban!" He shouted. "There's nowhere for you to go. Now here's what you are going to do and you're going to do it slowly. I don't want you accidentally dropping my partner. You are going to pull out of the traffic and my colleagues are going to escort you back to C-SEC HQ. I will be following you the whole way. If you try to escape, I will disable your skycar so that you will be forced to land. Honk your horn once to show me you understand my instructions."

From Shepard's position, he couldn't see Kaban's face but he could tell Kaban was weighing his options and was frustrated that none of them would work in his favor. Finally his shoulders slumped as he accepted his fate and honked the horn once. Garrus nodded to acknowledge the horn and gestured for Kaban to get his skycar in line with the escort while he quickly said something over his comm. Kaban did just that and followed the escort to C-SEC HQ. The whole way, Shepard let out a relieved sigh and loosened his grip on the skycar. He still held on but with Kaban driving slower and more steady, he didn't have to worry about being thrown off and could relax his sore arms.

Minutes later, the convoy landed on the C-SEC HQ rooftop. Waiting for them were several armed officers, each one pointing their weapons at Kaban's car. Shepard figured the call Garrus made while Kaban was joining the escort was for the officers to meet them when they arrived. With these new officers keeping their guns on Kaban, Garrus could relax and land his skycar on the roof as well. The second Kaban's skycar came to a stop, Shepard rolled off and and landed safely on the solid ground. Alas there was no time for him to celebrate surviving his harrowing journey. He quickly pulled out his own weapon and aimed at Kaban. Garrus quickly got out of his skycar and joined Shepard. Kaban slowly stepped out from his skycar with his hands raised.

"Detective Shepard," Garrus said, "you do the honors."

Shepard nodded and stepped towards Kaban. He turned Kaban around and brought his hands down to be handcuffed behind his back.

"Kaban Jeel," Shepard said as he put on the handcuffs, "you are under arrest for the murder of Shara'Vael vas Moreh."

"You two don't understand," Kaban said, "Lyle promised me that he was negotiating to have me traded to a team that would pay more money. He convinced them that I was still a great player but my talents were being wasted with the Peacekeepers. If Shara exposed his scheme, the team I was going to join would have realized that I was helping Lyle throw matches and would cancel the deal. My credibility and reputation as a player would be destroyed and my career would be over. After everything Shara did to help me get me to where I am, she had no qualms about ending it. Some friend she turned out to be."

Shepard aggressively spun Kaban around and pushed him up against the skycar, "I have a feeling that it's Shara who should be saying that about you. From the email she sent you, it's obvious that she didn't know you were involved in Lyle's scheme. I wouldn't be surprised if after you told her the truth that she offered to not reveal your name when she exposed Lyle to the commissioner. After all, she intentionally caused a deal with Starfire to fail because she didn't want them to be caught up in the fallout. She would have looked out for you like any friend would. But you decided to side with Lyle over your best friend. Shara didn't betray you Kaban, you betrayed her. You brutally took a good woman from this galaxy and now you're going to spend the rest of your life in a cell to pay for it."

With that said, Shepard escorted Kaban towards the door that would take them into C-SEC HQ. Along the way, he felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders. He and Garrus had promised that they would find Shara's killer and bring him to justice. Now a small smile was appearing on his face because they were successful in keeping that promise. His first case as a C-SEC homicide detective was now closed.


	15. Finale

It was a long walk from the roof of C-SEC HQ to the holding cells. Normally that would put someone transporting a prisoner on edge but neither Shepard nor Garrus were worried. Between the fact that Kaban's hands were cuffed behind his back and that Shepard and Garrus each had a firm grip on one of his arms, Kaban wasn't going anywhere. The only excitement during the walk was the occasional applause from officers that the trio past. Word had spread about the crazy stunts both Shepard and Garrus used in order to make the arrest and the applause was the officers' way of congratulating the detectives for pulling it off…and without getting killed in the process. The latter thing was the one Shepard was most relieved about.

The detectives had just arrived at the holding cell when they noticed three familiar but unexpected faces in the bullpen. Talking with one of the other detectives was the child that Napier had taken hostage and her family. The detective made a gesture towards Bailey's office while he talked. This indicated to Shepard and Garrus that the family was waiting to see Bailey. He also noticed that the mother was carrying a pan. The pan's contents were not visible due to it being covered but Shepard and Garrus figured it was some kind of dessert. Though Shepard didn't do what he did for gifts or rewards, he was slightly angry seeing the pan because he knew the person they brought the food for didn't deserve it. The gift aside, the other thing that was making him slightly angry was that he really wanted to say hi to the child and see how she was doing but knew that the parents would never let him get within ten feet of her.

Not wanting to linger on how unfair the situation was, Shepard and Garrus resumed their task of getting Kaban into the cell. They opened the door, undid Kaban's cuffs and guided him inside. The door slammed shut ensuring Kaban was not going anywhere. Kaban had not said a single word the whole trip and that didn't change when he was in the cell. He just gave the detectives an angry glare and laid himself down on one of the benches. Though Kaban may have felt that his situation was unfair, Shepard and Garrus didn't look at him with any sympathy. Instead they looked at him with disgust. Fortunately the disgust was easily overtaken by the satisfaction they both felt for closing the case and putting Shara's killer behind bars. They turned to head to their desks when they saw Belon approach them.

"Did good today," he said, "killer behind bars. Monster. Not worthy being called salarian. Hope Shara find rest now."

"Amen to that Doc," Shepard replied.

"Hopefully this will also give Torro some closure," said Garrus, "speaking of which, I should call him right now to give him the news."

"DETECTIVE SHEPARD!"

The trio were surprised by the new voice calling Shepard's name. Looking towards the source, they saw the child had broken away from her parents and was running towards the while she was ignoring her parents calling for her to come back. Shepard quickly knelt down so that he was at the child's level. The next thing he knew, the child had reached him and threw her arms around him. Shepard would have enjoyed the hug but the moment was ruined by the child's mother.

"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" She scolded.

Thankfully Garrus had stepped between them, "ma'am, take it easy."

"Take it easy?! That's the man who almost got our daughter killed," said the father.

"Sir," Belon said while joining Garrus' side, "everything fine. Child not in any danger. Let them be. She'll come back when she's ready."

"Don't you remember me Detective Shepard?"

The child's voice caused all eyes to turn towards her and Shepard. Their hug had broken and the child was looking at Shepard with eager and innocent eyes as she waited for his answer. In that moment, Shepard's heart melted and it was like the room and everyone around him didn't exist. All he could focus on was the sweet, happy child looking at him. It was hard to believe that this was the terrified child he rescued from an evil clown just the day before. He gently reached out and patted the child's head.

"Of course I remember you kiddo," he said on the brink of tears, "we met at the Citadome yesterday. How are you doing today?"

"Fine thank you. I was hoping I'd see you today."

"You were? That's very nice of you."

"Well mommy always says I should thank people when they do something nice for me. You saved me from that mean clown and I wanted to thank you."

"Honey," the mother said as she pulled the child away from Shepard, "this man wasn't the one who saved you. Officer Kadarus did that and we came to thank him by giving him this cake."

"No mommy," the child protested, "Detective Shepard saved me. The clown was going to hurt me if he hadn't shown up. The only reason he didn't hurt the clown was because the clown was holding me."

"What?"

A new voice caught the attention of the group. The voice belonged to Bailey. Shepard figured Bailey had come out of his office to investigate the commotion caused by the child running towards him. He had been keeping his distance, no doubt because he trusted that Shepard and Garrus would be able to handle things smoothly. But something the child had said had now peaked Bailey's interest and caused him to step in.

"Excuse me darling," he said, "you said the clown was holding on to you when Detective Shepard was trying to help you. Was the clown holding you when Officer Kadarus hurt him?"

"Y…yes sir." The child said albeit she was slightly shy around the new authoritative figure in the room, "he…he dropped me when he fell."

Bailey paused to process what the child said before turning to Belon, "Dr. Solus, you did the autopsy on Napier. How was he shot?"

"Head shot," Belon replied, "through and through. Entry wound located back of head."

"Meaning Kadarus was behind Napier when he made the shot," Bailey said while rubbing his chin, "Napier's body would have blocked obstructed Kadarus' view but he should have known that Napier was holding the child. Even so…"

The pieces clicked together.

"Folks," Bailey said to the parents, "I realize that everything you've heard about what happened yesterday has made you understandably distrustful of Detective Shepard. But if what your daughter said is true, then it was dumb luck that Officer Kadarus saved your daughter."

"What do you…?"

The mother's question was interrupted when the bullpen doors opened and Kadarus strolled in. He had a smug smile on his face as he held up a document in his hand. Completely ignoring Shepard, Garrus, Belon and the family, he all but shoved the document in Bailey's face. Bailey reluctantly took the document and started reading it. He didn't get far as Kadarus took it upon himself to explain what Bailey was holding.

"There you go Commander," he said proudly, "a signed document from the executor himself confirming my transfer to homicide. Effective immediately, I am to become Detective Vakarian's new partner and Shepard is to be sent back to patrol. Of course I suggested that Shepard should be kicked off the force altogether but…."

(RIIIIIIIP!)

Everyone including Kadarus gasped when Bailey ripped the document in half. Then Bailey ripped it again. He continued to rip it until the document was nothing but tiny pieces. To add a final insult to injury, Bailey threw the pieces at Kadarus's face. Kadarus initially couldn't react. He struggled to process what had just happened. More importantly he was struggling to figure out the appropriate way to react. He finally lost it.

"COMMANDER HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!" He shouted loud enough that the whole HQ could have heard him. "THOSE WERE SIGNED ORDERS FROM THE EXECUTOR! When he hears about this…!"

"I don't care," Bailey replied calmly.

Kadarus looked at Bailey like he was speaking another language, "what did you say?"

"I….DON'T….CARE," Bailey repeated slowly so there could be no doubt to Kadarus what he had said, "you see Kadarus, while you were busy trying to get your promotion, DETECTIVE Shepard and Detective Vakarian found Ms. Shara'Vael's real killer. He's in the holding cell right now."

"Impossible," Kadarus denied, "we all know it was that sicko clown. He killed her because he didn't want her to keep him from doing things to kids I can't even speak about. Killing him was true justice and I have no regrets for doing it."

"You mean you don't even regret almost killing this child in the process," Bailey said while pointing the child who was trying to hide in Shepard's arms.

Kadarus looked back and forth between the child and her parents, "what are you talking about Commander? Who are these people? I've never seen that kid before in my life."

The mother and father looked upon Kadarus in horrific shock. The child managed to find the courage to look at Kadarus with hurtful eyes for a second before hiding herself in Shepard's arms again. Shepard, Garrus and Belon all looked at Kadarus with anger and disapproving glares. But it was Bailey who was feeling all the group members emotions combined and his glare was causing Kadarus to take some cautious steps back.

"This child is the one that was taken hostage by the "sicko clown" you mentioned. How can you not remember her when you spent yesterday boasting about saving her? The thing is, this child was just telling me how Napier was holding her in his arms when you took the shot that killed him. Based on what Dr. Solus found during the autopsy, you were shooting Napier from behind. From that angle, Napier's body would have kept the child hidden from your sight. So how could you possibly have known that your shot wasn't going to hit the child as well?"

"I…I…," Kadarus stuttered trying to come up with a reply, "wait, what does it even matter? The important thing should be that I took that sicko down and that he's never going to hurt another child again."

Bailey shook his head, "that right there Kadarus is one of the reasons I picked Shepard to be a detective instead of you. On top of being a C-SEC detective, Shepard is a Spectre. He could use that authority to close his cases however he wants and I wouldn't be able to challenge his decisions. But unlike you, Shepard would never risk innocent lives to catch his suspect."

"But…but…"

"When I tell that to the executor along with what the child has told me, I can assure you that he'll cancel the transfer order. Now I'm only going to say this once, get out of my bullpen and don't you ever set foot in here again!"

Once again Kadarus found himself being glared at by every detective in the bullpen. He was left with no choice but to run out of the bullpen with his tail between his legs. No doubt he was on his way to cry to his father-in-law again but the smug smile on Bailey's face showed that he didn't care. After accepting a brief applause from his squad, he returned his attention back to the child's parents.

"I'm truly sorry you had to see that folks," he said as he turned to leave, "now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a call coming through that I'll need to take."

The mother turned to Shepard who was still holding the child, "looks like we had the wrong impression of you Detective Shepard. How we can ever make it up to you?"

Shepard smiled as he let the child go, "I'm sure the other detectives would appreciate you leaving that cake so that we can celebrate closing our case. As for me, I feel kind of silly that I've seen this little angel twice now and I don't know her name."

The child smiled and blushed, "my name is Irissa."

"Well Irissa," Shepard replied, "it is pleasure to meet you. I wish we could talk longer but my partner and I should probably get back to work. You be a good girl, okay?"

"I will," Irissa replied before giving Shepard one final hug and left the bullpen with her parents.

Shepard and Garrus were about to head to their desks when Belon stopped them, "Detective Shepard. Asked before why become medical examiner. What just happened, part of reason."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

"Originally interested in genetics because of stories. Genes can tell much about individual. Where they come from. Maybe even indicate what they would become. Wanted to learn those stories for myself. One day, found myself studying cadaver. Took samples to study genetic makeup. Found something else. Faint trace of poison. Went unnoticed during autopsy. Death ruled natural causes."

"But you ended up finding proof that it was murder."

"Yes. Experience also gave epiphany. Murder victims have stories as well. Just need right person to help tell them. Realized, could be that person. Find ways to speak for dead so they could help catch their killers. Quit genetics program, switched to anatomical studies. Got job with C-SEC after graduation. Ever since, helped catch killers…and exonerate innocent. Like now. Napier was vile but still had story to tell. His story prove Kadarus recklessly endangered child. As result, station now knows that Shepard's account of events was true."

Shepard smiled and held out his hand for Belon to shake, "thanks Doc. You have been a big help both now and during the case. I have a feeling that you, Garrus and I are going to make a great team."

After Belon had shaken Shepard and Garru's hands, he left to return to his office. Shepard and Garrus proceeded to their desks. Seeing everything in its proper place and knowing it would stay that way pleased Shepard. He was sure that there would be plenty more times where he and Garrus would butt heads with Kadarus but the important thing was that his job as a homicide detective and Garrus' partner was secure…or was it.

Garrus seemed to pick up on Shepard's sudden mood change, "you're worried about Ashley again, aren't you?"

Shepard nodded. He was happy that the case had been resolved but all he could think about was the events at the parking structure. Without a second thought, he jumped from the top of the structure and onto a moving skycar. Even though he had made the landing and didn't fall to his death, his fate was ultimately up to chance from that point onward. There was nothing he could do to bring the skycar to a stop because he had to focus on not falling off. If Garrus and the other officers hadn't trapped Kaban when they did, Kaban would have eventually shaken Shepard off to his death. There was no way Ashley was going to approve of Shepard taking that kind of risk.

"I promised her that we would talk once this case was over," Shepard said, "once she learns about what I did today, I don't think she's going to be okay with me having this job anymore. There have just been too many close calls with my life the last few days and I had promised her that I would do everything in my power to ensure I come home to her and the baby everyday. If I keep putting myself in risky situations, how am I supposed to keep that promise?"

"I hear you partner," Garrus replied, "I'm sure if Tali and I start trying to have kids, she might start thinking the same way Ashley is and then I'll be in the same boat. Let me ask you something? Now that you've closed your first case, how do you feel about this job?"

Shepard sighed, "it has certainly been an interesting first couple of days. Admittedly there is a part of me that wonders what I really accomplished for all the trouble we've gone through. Shara is sill gone and will never have her happily ever after with Torro. But I'm smart enough to see the bigger picture. We made sure that Kaban didn't get away with killing Shara. As an unexpected bonus, we took down Wilkinson and his illegal gambling operation. When you include the lives we've saved along the way, we really are making a difference and that makes me happy. I truly believe that this job is perfect for me."

Garrus shrugged, "well that doesn't help. Don't get me wrong I'm happy to hear that you like this job. I just meant that it would have been easier to make a decision if you didn't. For me personally, I want you to stay. And it's not just because we went through a lot to ensure that Kadarus didn't become my partner. But because there's no Vakarian without Shepard."

"I know. Believe me, I want to stay as well. But Ashley and the baby mean more to me than this job. They both need me and they shouldn't have to worry about me."

The two partners sat at their desks and pondered. After everything they'd done to ensure that they didn't get broken up, it was still possible that they would only work the one case together. It was all going to depend on how Shepard's talk with Ashley went. The clocks on their terminals showed that their shift was over. After promising to call each other later that night, Shepard and Garrus got up from their desks and left the bullpen. A few of the other detectives congratulated them for closing their case as they left. Shepard and Garrus kept a brave face and thanked each one they passed.

* * *

"Hey beautiful, I'm home."

Shepard scanned the apartment but didn't see any sign of Ashley on the main floor. However the sound of footsteps from upstairs told him that Ashley had heard his greeting. In the early days of their post-military lifestyle, Ashley would get to the door to greet Shepard when he got home in a blink. As Ashley's pregnancy progressed and her belly got bigger, the time it took her to greet Shepard got longer. If she was coming from upstairs, it was definitely going to take a few minutes. Normally Shepard would make an effort to meet Ashley half way but this time he was okay with waiting a little bit longer.

The entire ride from the station to his apartment, Shepard had been working out he was going to break the news to Ashley about what had happened at work. More importantly he was working on how he was going to keep her from talking him into looking for a different job. At least having a baby on the way would keep her from flat out suggesting he quit right away since Shepard was the one providing the steady income and benefits. Still Shepard wanted to be able to call Garrus later and tell him that he was going to remain a detective for the foreseeable future.

Shepard went to the kitchen to get himself a drink when he heard footsteps coming from the stairs. The sight he saw brought smile to his face. Slowly descending the stairs was Ashley wearing pajamas. According to the clock in the kitchen, it was slightly too early for Ashley to be wearing them. True they were probably the most comfortable clothes she had but Shepard was curious as to why she would have pajama's on during this time of day.

"You look like you've had a relaxing day today," he said.

"I felt I deserved a day off," Ashley replied while looking proud of herself, "my book is finished and going to be published. Today was all about me kicking back in my PJ's and having a me day….well as much of a me day as I can have when the kiddo isn't kicking to remind me that he's still here."

Shepard chuckled, "that sounds nice."

"Really? I would think that sounded boring compared to the day you've had."

The comment cause Shepard to tense up, "how do you know what my day was like?"

Ashley shrugged her shoulders, "at one point I was bored and channel surfing when I saw you on the news. You really rode on top of a moving skycar?"

"I swear I was going to tell you," Shepard replied, "Garrus and I found the killer. We confronted him but he bolted in a skycar. The guy would have been long gone before we would have gotten to Garrus' skycar. I couldn't let him get away so…"

"Shh."

It was kind of surprising to Shepard that Ashley shushed him but he didn't try to keep talking. Instead he followed Ashley as she beckoned him to join her on the couch. When he was seated, Ashley took his hand. Shepard didn't know whether he should have been bracing himself for what Ashley was going to say next.

"I couldn't bare to watch the whole report," Ashley said, "but from what I heard, you and Garrus caught the killer?"

Shepard nodded, "the case is officially closed. On top of that, Bailey was able to get the transfer order rescinded."

Ashley nodded in return, "good. I'm glad to hear that."

"Really? Even the part about me keeping my job."

Ashley sighed, "aside from relaxing, I've been doing a lot of thinking today. I'm always going to be worried that the risks you take on the job will get you killed. Watching you on that skycar reaffirmed that the worry was warranted. But as scared as I am of losing you, I kept thinking about something you said last night."

"What was that?"

"You talked about how you weren't sure how we could raise a child on this station when so many terrible things can happen. The fact that there will always be people like that clown or the killer you caught out there is the thing that terrifies me the most. I know that C-SEC and the military are capable of keeping this station safe but I'm didn't think that would be enough to calm my fears."

Shepard wrapped his arm around Ashley, "I didn't mean to worry you by talking about that stuff yesterday. Is there anything I can do to help reassure you that we're safe here?"

Ashley smiled, "you already have been doing that. You are a true hero-man with a big heart. You care not only about the safety of me and our baby but also for the safety of everyone on this station. And you have a strong moral compass that will ensure you never stoop to the level of the criminals you catch or of the invcometant officers like Kadarus to do your job. I have no doubt that this station will be a lot safer with Detective Shepard and Detective Garrus working hard to catch the killers and save lives."

A tear appeared in Shepard's eye, "you mean it?"

"Absolutely. Now what do you say we have ourselves a nice dinner to celebrate you closing your first case?"

To answer Ashley's question, Shepard helped her off the couch and led her to the kitchen to start preparing their dinner. All the while he was happy that their talk had gone better than he had expected. He was going to use the rest of the night to ensure Ashley knew how much he appreciated her giving her blessing for him to stay with his job. In fact, he wish the night didn't have to end. But he knew the odds were that somewhere on the station another homicide was being committed. Which meant the next day would see him and Garrus vigilantly waiting for the case to come to them so they could hunt down the killer. Because this was his life now. He was Detective Shepard, C-SEC Homicide.


End file.
